Lawmakers Press Harvard Over Training of Sanctioned Xinjiang Paramilitary
“Harvard-trained members of a sanctioned Chinese paramilitary group involved in genocide, along with researchers partnering with Chinese military universities on Department of Defense-funded projects and those funded by the Iranian regime, represent a disturbing and ongoing threat,”
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WASHINGTON — Three senior House Republicans have asked Harvard University to explain why it trained members of a Chinese paramilitary organization under U.S. sanctions, and why its researchers worked with Chinese military-linked institutions on projects funded by the Pentagon.
In a letter sent Monday to Harvard President Alan Garber, Reps. John Moolenaar, Tim Walberg and Elise Stefanik focused on the university’s dealings with the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a state-run paramilitary and economic organization in the Uyghur region.
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned the XPCC in July 2020 over its role in the surveillance and mass detention of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.
The letter also cites Harvard’s research partnerships with universities linked to China’s People’s Liberation Army, projects funded by the Iranian government, and organ transplant research with Chinese institutions. Researchers and rights groups have long alleged that China harvests organs from prisoners of conscience.
“Harvard-trained members of a sanctioned Chinese paramilitary group involved in genocide, along with researchers partnering with Chinese military universities on Department of Defense-funded projects and those funded by the Iranian regime, represent a disturbing and ongoing threat,” Moolenaar said in a statement posted on X.
Walberg said Harvard “helped train members of a group directly complicit in genocide” and that Garber must answer for it.
Stefanik said no American institution should help China’s military buildup or Iran’s ambitions “under the guise of academic collaboration.”
The lawmakers requested internal university records and testimony from Harvard officials, including health policy professor Winnie Yip (Ye Zhimin, 叶志敏). They gave Harvard until June 2 to respond.
The United States declared in January 2021 that China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim minorities amounts to genocide and crimes against humanity. More than a million people are estimated to have been held in camps in the region. Former detainees and leaked Chinese government documents describe forced labor, forced sterilization, and the suppression of religion and language.
