https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3294348/university-michigan-ends-chinese-partnership-after-intense-pressure-us-lawmakers?d=1c13e062-091c-49fa-8ddc-076d78d97093
University of Michigan ends Chinese partnership after intense pressure from US lawmakers
Shanghai Jiao Tong University has been accused of playing a ‘critical role’ in the Communist Party’s military-civil fusion strategy
The University of Michigan is ending its long-standing partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, becoming the latest major US research institution to sever ties with a Chinese counterpart under pressure from lawmakers.
The announcement was made on Friday, three months after the House select committee on China sent a letter to the University of Michigan’s president, Santa Ono, arguing that the Chinese university played a “critical role in the Chinese Communist Party’s military-civil fusion strategy”.
In a statement, Ono said the University of Michigan must “prioritise our commitment to national security” even as “international academic partnerships have deeply enriched our academic offerings and strengthened the global education of our students”.
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, known for its strength in science and engineering, is not on any US government blacklists, although the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a Canberra-based think tank, listed it as “high-risk” in its defence-related tracker of Chinese universities.
The partnership between the two top-ranking public universities involved a joint institute that placed American students in China and Chinese students in the United States. Established in 2005, the institute offered English-language engineering degree programmes.
The provost’s office at the University of Michigan said the institute had offered global learning experiences to over 1,000 undergraduates, and would work to ensure current students can complete their degrees without disruptions.
In a statement on Friday, John Moolenaar, the Michigan Republican who chairs the House committee on China, commended the university for making “the right decision”.
“Too many American universities are collaborating with [Chinese Communist Party] researchers on critical technologies including weapons, artificial intelligence, and nuclear physics,” he said, adding that more universities should follow suit in shuttering partnerships.
The University of Michigan is the latest of several US universities to announce the termination of joint programmes with China after scrutiny from Moolenaar’s committee.
In September, Georgia Tech announced the end of its partnerships in the Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Tianjin. Previously Alfred University in New York said it would close its Confucius Institute, a Chinese government-funded programme focused on language and culture.
Across the US, universities are increasingly coming under political scrutiny for their ties to China. In Florida last year, multiple educational partnerships were cancelled after a state law made it more difficult for them to get approval.
But some new partnerships have still been launched. In 2023, Temple University’s Beasley School of Law began a new student and faculty exchange with the North China University of Science and Technology.
And last year, Harvard University launched a new study abroad initiative with Shanghai’s Fudan University focused on the city’s culture and East Asian economics.
“Universities are institutions that outlast political moments,” William Kirby, the programme’s lead, said at the time.