US Lawmakers To Probe Pentagon's Hypersonic Grants For Universities Cooperating With China

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd June, 2023) US lawmakers on Thursday opened a probe into the Department of Defense's hypersonic research grants for American universities that continue to cooperate with Chinese state-linked Confucius Institutes that allegedly perform similar research for the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

"The Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party and the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation write to express our deep concern that lucrative Department of Defense research grants continue to be awarded to universities that host Confucius Institutes," the select committee said in a letter to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

The members of the committee and the subcommittee believe that the Department of Defense is funding advanced, hypersonic weapons-related research at American universities that actively partner with a Chinese university performing similar research for the PLA and seek information on how the Pentagon is protecting sensitive national security research by no later than June 14, according to the letter.

The lawmakers are particularly concerned with a $13.5 million hypersonic research grant for Alfred University which is hosting a Confucius Institute and partnering with a Chinese university that is allegedly actively engaged in defense research, the letter said.

Moreover, the lawmakers warn Austin that unless Alfred University closes its Confucius Institute or receives a special waiver, the research grant will be in violation of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act as of October 1, 2023. The Act directly prohibits the Department of Defense from providing funds to an institution of higher education that hosts a Confucius Institute after the date, according to the letter.