Another university considers cutting ties with Chinese institution as national security concerns mount

Almost a year after the University of Michigan severed ties with a Chinese institution over concerns of national security, over a dozen U.S. universities are still working with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Now, at least one of those schools is also considering cutting ties with the Chinese university over national security concerns.

The University of Hawaii at Manoa’s relationship with Shanghai Jiao Tong University is currently under review, the Honolulu public university told The Daily Signal.

The central fear is China may exploit its relationship with universities like Yale, Cornell, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the same way it is reported to have done at the University of Michigan, according to a Heritage Foundation expert.

In the case of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, “it would be safer” for U.S. universities “to cut ties at this particular juncture where we must pay closer attention to these critical matters to safeguard our national security from [Chinese Communist Party] threats,” Anthony Kim, a research fellow in international economic affairs at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal.

University of Michigan

In January, the University of Michigan announced it would end its longstanding partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, based in Shanghai, China, over Congress raising concerns of national security.

Following an extensive investigation into American universities’ relationship and work with China, Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., sent a letter to University of Michigan President Santa Ono at the end of October 2024, warning that “Sanghai Jiao Tong drives the [People’s Republic of China’s] military modernization and intelligence capabilities.”

Through its work and research, Sanghai Jiao Tong makes “significant contributions to the PRC’s most sensitive defense programs, including nuclear weapons, carrier rockets, satellites, nuclear submarines, and fighter jets,” the congressman wrote to Ono.

A series of national security breaches at the University of Michigan were also discovered to be linked to the school’s research relationship with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, The Washington Free Beacon reports. The breaches included accusations that University of Michigan Students, who are Chinese nationals, took photos of military drills at Camp Grayling, a military training facility in Michigan.

Earlier this year, the Department of Justice charged a Chinese national employed at the University of Michigan with smuggling a dangerous biological pathogen called Fusarium graminearum into the U.S.

Change Is ‘Overdue’

“I think we need a common sense-based, step-by-step approach to untangle what’s been going on with bad, malicious players that have been polluting our academic institutions,” Kim said, adding that the change is “overdue.”

Changes aimed at “stopping academic or other types of espionage or influence operations, particularly from China’s CCP” should include “enforcing stricter transparency for funding …, lowering disclosure thresholds for university grants [and] donations, and holding universities accountable for concealing foreign influence through government-sponsored student groups,” Kim said.

Shanghai Jiao Tong and US Universities

The University of South Carolina, which has an exchange program with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, says its relationship with the Chinese institution “has been limited to sending a handful of our business students to SJTU for a semester; not part of research-oriented student exchange program,” Jeffrey Stensland, associate vice president for university communications at the University of South Carolina, told The Daily Signal.

The university does not currently have any students at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, according to Stensland.

The University of California at Berkeley, which also has a relationship with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, “complies with every single federal law, every state law, and every university policy that together ensure our relationships with foreign countries and entities operate in [a] manner consistent with our national interest,” Dan Mogulof, assistant vice chancellor at the school, said.

Meanwhile, other colleges, such as Drexel University in Pennsylvania, have already ended their program with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, but did not specify the reason why.

Northwestern University, Cornell University, University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, University of Texas at Austin, Yale University, and the University of Pennsylvania did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment regarding their current relationship with Shanghai Jiao Tong University or whether their school would consider terminating relations with the Chinese institution over concerns of national security.

[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]