Relationship between university and Beijing has elicited concerns about Chinese Communist Party influence
Following the Trump administration’s recent action to curb Harvard University’s international admissions and vet Chinese nationals studying in the United States for ties to the communist party, the Ivy League school’s extensive involvement with Beijing has come to the fore.
The oldest and wealthiest U.S. university is under increasing scrutiny for its controversial research collaboration with China, its role in educating Chinese regime officials, and providing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with a platform to spread its propaganda narratives and marginalize dissenting voices on U.S. soil.
On May 27, the State Department ordered a freeze on all student visa interviews. The next day, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the department was tightening restrictions on visa applications by Chinese nationals and would “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.”
Harvard has long been known among Chinese people for its role in educating the communist regime’s elites, including the progeny of the CCP leaders themselves. In 2014, one state-run media outlet, the Shanghai Observer, nicknamed the Ivy League university’s Kennedy School of Government an unofficial “Party school”—a reference to the institutions in China used to train and indoctrinate the regime’s cadres.
U.S. lawmakers have singled out Harvard for its China partnerships, including with sanctioned organizations believed to be complicit in the CCP’s human rights abuses, while other observers have criticized the school for allowing Beijing’s influence over the institution to expand unchecked.
In addition to receiving billions of dollars in U.S. federal funding, which the Trump administration is currently attempting to revoke, Harvard has accepted vast sums in donations and gifts from China, including from individuals affiliated with the CCP.
Li Yuanhua, former associate professor at Beijing’s Capital Normal University, told The Epoch Times that the Harvard–China relationship is packaged as academic cooperation and international exchange but serves the political and technological aims of communist China.
“The CCP is not just infiltrating one university, but the entire [U.S. academic] system,” Li said.
The Epoch Times reached out to Harvard for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
By Leo Timm
