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Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, sent a letter on Thursday to the presidents of 26 Florida colleges, public and private alike, warning them to be careful of Chinese influence.
Rubio wrote about “a thorny issue that threatens to compromise our nation’s security as well as the integrity of the research and development enterprise in Florida. The Chinese Communist Party and the government of the People’s Republic of China, which the CCP controls, are using every available avenue in our open society to covertly advance a malign agenda. Research collaboration and educational exchange are no exception.”
He added, “The CCP hopes to weaken our economy, society, and democracy. A weak America benefits the CCP’s efforts to dominate the global economy, and it also creates the false impression that the alternative model that the CCP represents is superior to our own. The CCP quietly seeks to acquire cutting-edge U.S. technology and the knowledge that will give birth to the technology of the future. Much of that knowledge is unclassified and resides in our universities. Unclassified does not mean unimportant. The CCP believes that access to such knowledge will accelerate the buildup of the People’s Liberation Army, the CCP’s armed wing, and propel China’s state-directed economy ahead of the United States and into the technological frontier where leadership of the global economy of the 21st century will be contested. For this reason, we cannot approach academic exchange with institutions or individuals from the PRC with stars in our eyes.”
