UC Berkeley Neglected To Disclose $220 Million Deal With China To the US Government (thedailybeast.com) 63
schwit1 shares a report from The Daily Beast: U.C. Berkeley has failed to disclose to the U.S. government massive Chinese state funding for a highly sensitive $240 million joint tech venture in China that has been running for the last eight years. The Californian university has not registered with the U.S. government that it received huge financial support from the city of Shenzhen for a tech project inside China, which also included partnerships with Chinese companies that have since been sanctioned by the U.S. or accused of complicity in human rights abuses.
The university has failed to declare a $220 million investment from the municipal government of Shenzhen to build a research campus in China. A Berkeley spokesperson told The Daily Beast that the university had yet to declare the investment -- announced in 2018 -- because the campus is still under construction. However, a former Department of Education official who used to help manage the department's foreign gifts and contracts disclosure program said that investment agreements must be disclosed within six months of signing, not when they are fully executed. Berkeley admitted that it had also failed to disclose to the U.S. government a $19 million contract in 2016 with Tsinghua University, which is controlled by the Chinese government's Ministry of Education.
The project's Chinese backers promised lavish funding, state-of-the-art equipment, and smart Ph.D. students for Berkeley academics researching national security-sensitive technologies, according to contract documents exclusively obtained by The Daily Beast. After the project got underway, Berkeley researchers granted Chinese officials private tours of their cutting-edge U.S. semiconductor facilities and gave "priority commercialization rights" for intellectual properties (IP) they produced to Chinese government-backed funds. A Berkeley spokesman said that Berkeley only pursued fundamental research through TBSI, meaning that all research projects were eventually publicly published and accessible to all; it did not conduct any proprietary research that exclusively benefited a Chinese entity. Still, Berkeley's ties to the Chinese government and sanctioned Chinese companies are sure to raise eyebrows in Washington, where U.S. policymakers are increasingly concerned about the outflow of U.S. technology to China, especially those with military applications.
The university has failed to declare a $220 million investment from the municipal government of Shenzhen to build a research campus in China. A Berkeley spokesperson told The Daily Beast that the university had yet to declare the investment -- announced in 2018 -- because the campus is still under construction. However, a former Department of Education official who used to help manage the department's foreign gifts and contracts disclosure program said that investment agreements must be disclosed within six months of signing, not when they are fully executed. Berkeley admitted that it had also failed to disclose to the U.S. government a $19 million contract in 2016 with Tsinghua University, which is controlled by the Chinese government's Ministry of Education.
The project's Chinese backers promised lavish funding, state-of-the-art equipment, and smart Ph.D. students for Berkeley academics researching national security-sensitive technologies, according to contract documents exclusively obtained by The Daily Beast. After the project got underway, Berkeley researchers granted Chinese officials private tours of their cutting-edge U.S. semiconductor facilities and gave "priority commercialization rights" for intellectual properties (IP) they produced to Chinese government-backed funds. A Berkeley spokesman said that Berkeley only pursued fundamental research through TBSI, meaning that all research projects were eventually publicly published and accessible to all; it did not conduct any proprietary research that exclusively benefited a Chinese entity. Still, Berkeley's ties to the Chinese government and sanctioned Chinese companies are sure to raise eyebrows in Washington, where U.S. policymakers are increasingly concerned about the outflow of U.S. technology to China, especially those with military applications.
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I suspect you're mad at the wrong people.
Well within their history (Score:5, Informative)
Universities and China (Score:5, Insightful)
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China is as bad or worse than Germany ever was. Not only should we not be training their people be competitive against us we should have long since declared eminent domain on any US property owned by them and voided any US bonds they hold. They do today what Germany did then and if Germany suddenly went black and officially reopened under that regime... whatever you think the appropriate response would be, that is what our response should be with China.
They are cranking their war machine into overdrive, jus
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"China is as bad or worse than Germany ever was. Not only should we not be training their people be competitive against us we should have long since declared eminent domain on any US property owned by them and voided any US bonds they hold".
If the US continues to go around kicking more people they're bound to start more violence and blame it on others, or on spreading democracy, or anything other than expanding their economic and geopolitical clout.
That said, maybe we can dial down the mess when people star
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lol Sounds like you've been swallowing plenty of China's propaganda.
Re:Universities and China (Score:5, Informative)
What propaganda is that? China is ruled by a dictator, the state has direct control over their private industry (to the extent however much it is controlling any business is at whim), they openly brag and parade their growing war machine and nuclear arsenal, they've annexed multiple neighbor states and now claim they are part of China and always have been, and they've been convicted of genocide and organ harvesting by international tribunal. They also literally developed a domestic spying and propaganda machine so systematic and effective at manipulation of their populous that they market it to foreign nations fairly openly without fear of retribution from their people.
None of that is propaganda. These are publicly known facts and none of them come from the US government, military, or exclusively US media.
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"None of that is propaganda. These are publicly known facts..."
I guess it's hard for you to see the spin you're putting on it. Personally when you minimize your own country's faults and maximize others, I'm not sure of a better word for that than propaganda.
China tends not to see the scope of it's own faults too.
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Personally when you minimize your own country's faults and maximize others, I'm not sure of a better word for that than propaganda.
China tends not to see the scope of it's own faults too.
Two wrongs does not make a right.
(Am not in the US or EU, for reference)
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Indeed. Logically it doesn't vindicate China in any way if someone else is also being bad.
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There is no min/maxing going on here. The facts speak for themselves and this doesn't even begin to cover them all. The country literally has an entire system of fake cost free "medical" treatment which operates entirely on placebo and has the population convinced they've provided true universal healthcare.
As for my own countries faults I don't see how I could minimize them without even mentioning my country. That said there is no nation I'm aware of doing within an order of magnitude of the harm that China
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domestic spying
I wish that was something people actually cared about, but even though we know for a fact that the US and UK do it, and have exported the technology to other governments so they can spy on their citizens, there is still a lot of push-back when people try to do anything about it.
Look at how bitterly people complain when encryption is implemented or made default.
I'm not defending China, no country should do it. I'm saying I wish it was something people were actually concerned about, not just a stick to beat C
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"I wish that was something people actually cared about, but even though we know for a fact that the US and UK do it, and have exported the technology to other governments so they can spy on their citizens"
I'd love to say we aren't doing anything that remotely compares to what China is doing but between Snowden/Assange and the Twitter Files revelations who could really say? This is what really terrifies me.
They've so effectively driven this partisan wedge right through the middle of this issue that even sugg
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we should have long since declared eminent domain on any US property owned by them and voided any US bonds they hold
That would cause every other country on the planet to immediately start selling off all US property and cash out all bonds that they hold since it would suddenly be a very risky investment. If you want to completely tank the US economy and put us into a depression that makes the 1920s look luxurious, this is how you do it.
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"That would cause every other country on the planet to immediately start selling off all US property and cash out all bonds that they hold since it would suddenly be a very risky investment."
Yes, that is the only rational response to a nation voiding the debts of an enemy especially engaged in active genocide, abuse of their people and multiple decades of wars of aggression in which they swallow up their neighbors and pretend they've always been part of China. Assuming of course any of that applies to them,
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I don't think so. Although what you say of China is overwhelmingly likely true, it wouldn't fly in the court of international sovereign opinion. Basically look at everything Putin says about Ukraine. And speak of Russia, in fact the US took a HUGE risk taking Russia off of SWIFT. Enough so that some of our own allies, even allies that are currently acting against Russia, are looking to eliminate at least some of their USD reserves. Defaulting on debt, especially given the contract doesn't say the US has the
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"Defaulting on debt, especially given the contract doesn't say the US has the right to under the conditions you mentioned, would really create a disaster for us. Seizing property can be done, and indeed we are doing that to Russia, but like SWIFT it too needs to be very carefully measured."
We don't need to default on any debt. We can ban the issue of new bonds to China and in a separate act cancel all bonds with a transition period wherein they can be reissued, just like we've done with paper currency in th
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voided any US bonds they hold.
That wouldn't end well for the US.
Re: Universities and China (Score:1)
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Why do we even allow this?
Simple answer is money. Universities, especially US universities, love money.
No price too low!
Re:Universities and China (Score:5, Insightful)
Because officially they are not an "adversary". We're not at war, there's no law against doing business with them, etc. Go back and blame Nixon if anyone for opening up relations. At that point we started getting more Chinese students.
Now some may claim NO foreign students should enroll - however foreign students pay full tuition at UC, not the discounted rates that California residents pay. This also applies to many other state universities across the country. This adds up to a lot of money that helps subsidize local local students.
Re:Universities and China (Score:5, Informative)
[F]oreign students pay full tuition at UC, not the discounted rates that California residents pay. This also applies to many other state universities across the country. This adds up to a lot of money that helps subsidize local local students.
I've heard similar discussions here at my university too. Foreign students are considered a bit of a cash cow. Many STEM departments would love to increase the percentage of enrolled students who hail from outside the US.
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The whole point of the universities should be to educate AMERICAN students. I realize why they actually exist is the same as any other business, which is to get rich. It's worse that they constantly get taxpayer dollars on top of it though.
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Why American? I assume you meant "American" Universities should only... But not all universities are public, not all receive funding from the national government, etc. And it's been tradtion in many countries, not just the US, to allow foreign students. Many Americans also study overseas. What if Oxford said "Sorry, no foreigners, not even Irish"? This adds to the prestige of a country, even though I know many would rather just reduce American prestige back to being an 1880's style backwater.
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So it seems less like allowing them, but more like they're taking a very outsized share of the education in these countries due to their sheer numbers.
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The whole point of the universities should be to educate AMERICAN students
I think part of educating foreigners is to establish soft power. If foreigners like the American system, they may want to stay and put down roots and contribute to America. Or they may have favourable views of America even if they return to their own countries, after the education.
Part of what made America great was that you had the best and brightest from many parts of the world coming to America to get an education, and putting down roots and contributing in a positive manner.
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As a state school graduate, I get the subsidy of foreign or out of state students..my school actively sought them out, albeit back then (20 years ago) from Taiwan, Japan and not China.
However, most Chinese students are flocking to private schools, where they pay the same price as everyone else. Many of these schools, notably all of the elite ones, have large endowments and do
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It's the money. Foreign students pay much more in tuition. Also, California no longer supports education like it used to. When I went to Berkeley in 1968 (as a California resident) it cost $120 in admin fees to attend, plus of course books, supplies housing etc. Letting education get expensive is one of the biggest crimes of my generation.
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Our universities have had a cozy relationship with China for too long. The US has over 300k foreign Chinese students currently. Why do we even allow this? What benefits does educating the elite children of our biggest adversary bring? For every slot they take, an American doesn't get a seat at a competitive university.
As someone who has actually been to China, I can tell you that in the vast majority of cases it makes the Chinese students have a completely different outlook on China - and not a good one, either. The problem is that until the leadership of the so-called People's Liberation Army realizes that dying to protect being slaves to the Communist Party isn't in their best interests, these students can't accomplish anything good by going back. I'm friends with a couple who are currently on H1-B visas and I thi
Re: Universities and China (Score:2)
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Our universities have had a cozy relationship with China for too long. The US has over 300k foreign Chinese students currently. Why do we even allow this? What benefits does educating the elite children of our biggest adversary bring? For every slot they take, an American doesn't get a seat at a competitive university.
For the "slot" thing I think that's misleading. Education, even elite education, is a consumer good. The more it's in demand the more that will be produced. If there's 100 elite slots, 50 filled by Americans and 50 filled by foreigners then banning the 50 foreigners doesn't mean 50 more Americans in elite slots, it means 50 less elite slots.
As for the rest, not to claim there aren't downsides and risks, but there are substantial benefits.
1) Some of those 300k students will stay in the US, helping the econom
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... What benefits does educating the elite children of our biggest adversary bring? ...
Moonneeey!!1!
Money right now. The consequences will be someone else's problem, sometime in the future, eventually...
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Money. Foreign students pay more than domestic ones. Those high fee paying foreign students subsidise the domestic ones.
There are other benefits too, like being able to cream off some of the best talent from China by offering them jobs in the US at the end of their course.
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And put them into the BEST positions....to spy and steal technology from us here....
Yep, great plan.
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What do you call it when someone assumes everyone from a particular country is a bad actor? I'm sure there's a word for that.
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In the country China, the Chi-Com government rules over everything and everyone from there starts out beholden to it....and we're seeing more and more, even when the citizens leave...they stay beholden to their motherland.
Call it what you will, but facts are facts, even if they conjure up bad thoughts and labels.
You need to be cautious based on past and present behaviors.
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OThe US has over 300k foreign Chinese students currently. Why do we even allow this? What benefits does educating the elite children of our biggest adversary bring?
Presumably most of the 300k students may be paying sticker price for the education. Better then the local kids who may need scholarships, aid, etc.
You think the Uni administrators are getting paid millions per year due to poor kids??
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The other schools don't have administrators getting paid much, college presidents of state schools get like $300k -- the current salary of my alma mater's president.
Re: Universities and China (Score:2)
Where it is failing is that profs are supposed to have a mixture of grad students from various nations, but also from here. Chinese professors tend to bring in only Chinese students, with maybe 1 token American or other nation. This is while we are funding the research. This is the real failure in that.
Jokes on them (Score:2)
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This isn't really a Commie/Republican thing. This is more of a populist or nativist stance. It's only within the last few decades that GOP has turned more populist and nativist.
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This isn't really a Commie/Republican thing. This is more of a populist or nativist stance. It's only within the last few decades that GOP has turned more populist and nativist.
Also within the last few decades, the Democrats abandoned their pro Made in America American Union worker stance and turned more towards racial and sexual identity politics and much hilarity ensued.
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If history teaches us anything, the Communist go after Academics, Celebrities, Entertainers, Free Thinkers, Minorities, etc First!
Only after first recruiting them to their cause. Marxist movements find those people useful during "the struggle". Once they have governing control, THEN they "send them to gulag". Like the French Revolution before it, Communist Revolutions go right into Purity Test mode after winning power, and that's when you go from carrying a hammer and sickle flag and yelling "Down with the Tsar!", to kneeling in the basement of some makeshift prison and getting a bullet to the back of your head.
Skeptical... (Score:3)
Race card to be played in 3...2...1... (Score:3)
Microaggression!1one!eleven!!
For a country whose conspicuous attempts at Western-targetted propaganda are so cringy and ineffective, I have to take my hat off to a well-played long game of an influence operation: getting Western academics to buy into identitarianism, and then using it as cover whenever good old fashioned graft is called out.
A while back the FBI charged a couple of Harvard/MIT types with playing fast and loose about disclosing Chinese money. The old white guy went down, but the ethnically Chinese guy rallied a whole lot of institutional support and got the charges dropped. For what appeared to be identically ambiguous acts that used to fly before the Trump days when the PRC was a poor third world country in need of Western assistance but no longer flew when the federal government came around to understanding the CCP as a moneyed version of the USSR that it is.
Why can't we all just get along? (Score:2)
But regarding other bad things China is doing. US should look in the mirror a bit before being so sanctimonious.
Genocide and cultural erasure of indignenous people? Check.
Violent toppling of politically undesirable foreign democratic regimes in its own hemisphere? Check.
Spying with high-technology? Check.
US rhetoric and politica; and economic action on China is very xenophobic and aggressive these days. If we stumble into a hot war, the blame will probably fall equ
Money talks (Score:3)
Money talks, nobody walks.