The “steady erosion” of research ties between China and the US is damaging to both countries’ interests, experts have said, after 30 top research universities in the US were ordered to audit their foreign partnerships.
This week the US Department of War gave universities just two weeks to review ties with institutions that feature on a list, known as Section 1286, that identifies institutions deemed a “concern to national security”.
The department said the action “is designed to protect American taxpayer-funded research investments from unauthorised technology transfer, intellectual property theft and adversarial exploitation”.
There are 130 academic and research institutions on the list that are currently deemed national security threats, 88 of which are situated in mainland China.
The Department of War has said that the 130 institutions named “have been confirmed to engage in activities that increase the likelihood of U.S. government-funded research and development efforts being misappropriated”.
