Report finds China-tied entities seeking to hide Beijing's connection to US higher-ed research funding - ABC News

In the wake of efforts to require colleges and universities to report foreign sources of grant funding, it is becoming harder to identify money being routed through partnerships and organizations connected to Chinese interests or the Chinese government, researchers have found.

The Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) at Rutgers University, in a report released Wednesday titled "Beijing's Dark Money Pipeline," said "the public debate over foreign influence in higher education has focused almost exclusively on direct foreign gifts and contracts."

Current disclosure frameworks emphasize reporting under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, but "a growing portion of China-linked university funding does not operate through that model," the report said.

Instead, funds move through domestic nonprofits "that appear American under existing reporting rules."

"Once funding enters this system, the foreign relationships become substantially harder to identify--not because they are hidden, but because the reporting architecture does not ask about them," the report added.

The study determined that, even as most foreign funding of U.S. research grants has decreased, Chinese investment has grown substantially. And that's where the so-called "dark money" web comes in, according to the report.  

Earlier this year, the Department of Education unveiled a portal where foreign contributions to U.S. universities can be tracked. China alone has given more than $4 billion, according to the site.

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Examining a decade of IRS filings, NCRI found more than $400 million in 501(c) funding associated with "China-linked or China-exposed higher-education networks."

While NCRI said this should not be taken as a sign that all of the money came from the Chinese government, "it demonstrates that a substantial volume of university-associated funding connected to Chinese institutional networks moves through pathways that fall outside existing foreign-funding disclosure frameworks."

China has previously defended research collaboration with U.S. higher education as having benefits for both sides.

John Cohen, former head of intelligence for the Department of Homeland Security, said China has long been trying to extend its influence in U.S. higher education as part of a strategy to displace the United States as the world's leading superpower.

"China engages in extensive intelligence operations, whether it's the gathering of intelligence or creating covert operation capabilities across the United States," said Cohen, an ABC News contributor.

"They do that by sending people posing as students to universities. They invest in research programs. They send operatives to the United States posing as businesspeople.

"They buy property adjacent to military installations. They're buying businesses operating in seaports across the country. They engage in cyber operations, seeking to penetrate our critical infrastructure."

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