Princeton Took Millions From CCP-Linked School, Think Tank Head

Princeton University has taken millions of dollars in donations from a Chinese state-sponsored university and the founder of a think tank aligned with the Chinese Communist Party, according to federal records.

China has aggressively cultivated relationships with American universities and think tanks in recent years.

While some of these partnerships aim to promote genuine student and research exchange, FBI director Christopher Wray has warned of China's increased use of "Non-traditional collectors, especially in the academic setting." The Justice Department in 2018 formed the China Initiative to root out China's efforts to steal technology from American businesses and universities and to influence American policymakers.

While Princeton faculty fume, the school's donations from China are the sort of activity that the China Initiative is designed to monitor, according to one national security expert.

"The Chinese Communist Party's goal is to spread soft power influence while siphoning American research to use for its own nefarious agenda," says Will Coggin, managing director of the American Security Institute, which compiled the data on China's donations to Princeton from Department of Education databases.

"That's why it's exceptionally concerning that Princeton accepted $4.6 million from the Chinese government to research drug development and computer science-two areas where China is outpacing the United States."

Princeton received two anonymous donations from China for $1.3 million earlier this year to fund professorships in the school's computer science department, according to Department of Education records.

https://freebeacon.com/campus/princeton-took-millions-from-ccp-linked-school-think-tank-head/