Watchdog report alleges red-state university trained executives tied to China's defense sector
A public university in the American heartland spent more than two decades educating executives tied to China's military-industrial complex through a business program that allegedly received taxpayer support, a new watchdog report claims.
The report, titled Heartland for Hire, compiled by the geopolitical research firm Strategy Risks, alleges that Missouri State University (MSU) operated an MBA and Executive MBA pipeline that trained more than 1,500 Chinese executives, government officials and state-owned enterprise managers beginning in 2001, including personnel connected to China's defense sector.
Graduates of the program, according to the report, included executives linked to Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), China's largest state-owned aerospace and defense conglomerate. AVIC has been designated by the U.S. Defense Department as a Chinese military company and has faced U.S. sanctions and investment restrictions over its ties to Beijing's military establishment.
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The report's authors argue the program occupied a blind spot in Washington's scrutiny of U.S.-China academic ties, which Fox News Digital has extensively reported on.
"Congressional and executive branch attention to American universities' ties to the CCP has been focused almost entirely on three areas: STEM research theft, issues involving free speech and harassment of Chinese students, and Chinese military-affiliated graduate students in defense-relevant doctoral programs," the report states. "This cadre training problem falls into a gap between existing oversight frameworks."
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for Missouri State University said the school was aware of the report and denied that any taxpayer dollars were used to fund the program.
"As the report further acknowledges, the students studied a ‘conventional business curriculum’ with no evidence of espionage, intellectual property theft, misconduct, false affiliations or complaints of harassment," the spokesperson said. "Students admitted to the program were required to comply with all student visa regulations administered by the U.S. State Department."
The report also alleges that participants were largely recruited and selected through Chinese government agencies, state-owned enterprises and CCP-linked organizations rather than through the university's standard admissions process.
"One of the most significant features of this program is that the CCP – and not MSU – selected the students," the report said.
According to the report, Chinese government documents described the partnership as a "China-U.S. state-to-state cooperation project." The report also identified graduates who later held positions at U.S.-restricted organizations, including AI company iFLYTEK. It alleges the partnership continued after some participating entities were added to U.S. restriction lists.
The report cited Chinese recruiting materials that described portions of the program's costs as being covered by U.S. government or Missouri state-supported subsidies, potentially amounting to tens of millions of dollars. However, the report acknowledges that no public U.S. records confirm those taxpayer-funded payments and that the total amount cannot be independently verified.
"What we uncover instead is evidence of China's state apparatus using a public American university, American accreditation, and American taxpayer dollars to enhance the management and technical capabilities of the individuals who run the CCP's defense industrial base," according to the report.
The report concludes that the Missouri State program reflects a gap in oversight.
"No comparable attention has reached degree-granting pipelines, defense industry participants, or the regional public universities under which the system actually took place," the report said.
Amid growing alarm over Chinese influence in higher education, the report raises fresh questions about national security risks and foreign interference on college campuses.
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A December report from Strategy Risks and the Human Rights Foundation warned that top U.S. universities, including MIT, Stanford, Harvard and Princeton, have partnered with Chinese AI labs tied to Beijing’s surveillance state and, in some cases, co-authored thousands of papers with entities linked to efforts targeting Uyghur Muslims.
Last year, the House Select Committee on China launched an investigation into universities partnering with PRC’s China Scholarship Council (CSC), citing concerns that the program serves as a covert pipeline for Beijing to gain access to sensitive American research and technology and contributes to "systemic CCP infiltration" in U.S. academia. In a September report, American universities were found to be educating thousands of Chinese nationals with ties to the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
Two months later, multiple Chinese nationals were charged in November with conspiring to smuggle biological materials into the United States while working at a University of Michigan laboratory, prompting renewed calls for stronger safeguards at U.S. research institutions.
Committee Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., urged the National Science Foundation in March to review a $67 million research security initiative over universities' ties to Chinese military-linked institutions.
Lawmakers have also introduced legislation aimed at limiting Chinese influence. In June, Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, introduced the Espionage Protection Act, which would prohibit federal funding for university intelligence-related programs if schools maintain relationships with organizations alleged to have ties to the CCP.
Following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, President Donald Trump said he is not in favor of banning Chinese students from studying in the United States, telling Fox News' Sean Hannity that the move would strain relations with China.
More than 260,000 Chinese students were enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities during the 2024–25 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education's Open Doors Report.