When will federal lawmakers get serious about protecting American research?
[link removed]
CounterCurrent:
Rubio Moves to Confront China, Senate Votes “Nay”
When will federal lawmakers get serious about protecting American research?
CounterCurrent is the National Association of Scholars’ weekly newsletter, bringing you the biggest issues in academia and our responses to them.
[link removed]
Category: Foreign Influence; Reading Time: ~2 minutes
------------------------------------------------------------
** Featured Press Release - Rubio Files Amendments to Strengthen America’s Approach to Confronting China ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
On April 20, 2021, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced the “Endless Frontier Act ([link removed]) ,” a bipartisan bill cosponsored ([link removed]) by six Democrats and seven Republicans designed to strengthen “U.S. leadership in critical technologies through basic research in key technology focus areas, such as artificial intelligence, high performance computing, and advanced manufacturing, and the commercialization of those technologies to businesses in the United States.” On a macro-level, the bill was written to increase America’s science and technology (S&T) competitiveness on a global scale, particularly with China in mind.
The National Association of Scholars supports increased funding for American S&T, as it has been lagging behind ([link removed]) other nations for some time. But this funding must be distributed with appropriate protections in place. For years, governments such as the Chinese Communist Party have been secretly funding ([link removed]) researchers in America, stealing their work, and duplicating it within their own labs. China is most well-known for this, especially through its Thousand Talents Plan, but it is far from alone. Other nations, including Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, have poured untold billions of dollars into American higher education to advance their own interests.
Clearly, this is a problem we must take far more seriously. The Endless Frontier Act does not do so to any great extent.
To address these concerns, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) filed 22 amendments ([link removed]) to the Endless Frontier Act (which has now been expanded and rebranded as the United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 ([link removed]) ). These include the following amendments of particular interest to the NAS:
* Amendment 1802 - Protecting American research from China: “An amendment ([link removed]) to establish a counterintelligence screening process to protect the United States against the CCP’s and other adversaries’ efforts to engage in economic espionage and misappropriate America’s intellectual property, research and development, and innovation efforts.”
* Amendment 1938 - Increasing transparency of NIH grantees: “An amendment to require that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) report to Congress annually on the status of its investigation into NIH grantees with ties to foreign governments.”
* Amendment 1939 - Reviewing and modernizing NIH’s approach to national security: “An amendment to require a top down review of ways to update the NIH’s approach to national security in light of existing threats.”
In his press release announcing the amendments ([link removed]) , Rubio correctly warns that “The CCP will stop at nothing to achieve its objective of reshaping the international rules-based system to its benefit. Confronting the CCP’s threats and challenges will take a whole of nation approach, and part of that means strengthening our resiliency at home, ensuring the CCP cannot exploit America’s open society, and to hold the CCP accountable for its malign activities around the world.”
NAS commends Senator Rubio for his fine work in addressing these longstanding issues facing American research. We especially appreciate his focus on the National Institutes of Health, which, according to our own research ([link removed]) , is the grantmaking agency most frequently robbed by the CCP’s research theft operations. These amendments join Rubio’s stellar record in combating the CCP, including his cosponsorship of the Foreign Influence Transparency Act ([link removed]) and his work supporting the closure ([link removed]) of Florida’s Confucius Institutes.
Unfortunately, Amendment 1802 has already been tabled with a 55-40 vote ([link removed]) . Every Democrat in the Senate (save for one, who did not vote) voted to table the amendment, along with six Republicans and both Independents. All who voted against tabling are Republicans. We wish that protecting American research and improving its transparency were not seen as partisan issues—indeed, they are not, and all who support the true advancement of American science and technology ought to get behind these common-sense protections.
Until next week.
David Acevedo
Communications & Research Associate
National Association of Scholars
Read More ([link removed])
For more on foreign influence in American higher education:
[link removed]
May 05, 2021
** Cracking Down on Illegal Ties to China ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
David Acevedo
A repository of 47 professors, higher ed administrators, students, and government researchers in America who have been investigated or charged for illegal ties to China.
[link removed]
March 31, 2021
** China's Confucius Institutes Might Be Closing, But They Succeeded ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Rachelle Peterson
The United States is headed toward a post-Confucius Institute world. The CCP knows that and is prepared. Meanwhile, Chinese government influence is appearing under new guises.
[link removed]
February 11, 2021
** Scholars Call for Biden to Reinstate Transparency for Confucius Institutes ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
NAS
President Biden has quietly withdrawn a Trump Administration policy proposal that would have required all colleges and K-12 schools to disclose any ties with Confucius Institutes.
[link removed]
January 09, 2021
** Turning a Blind Eye to Chinese Malfeasance Does Not Advance Justice ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
David Acevedo
An open letter from three organizations to President-elect Biden urges him to end the DoJ's China Initiative, denouncing it as racist. This will lead to less justice, not more.
** About the NAS
------------------------------------------------------------
The National Association of Scholars, founded in 1987, emboldens reasoned scholarship and propels civil debate. We’re the leading organization of scholars and citizens committed to higher education as the catalyst of American freedom.
============================================================
Follow NAS on social media.
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** YouTube ([link removed])
** Website ([link removed])
** Donate ([link removed])
| ** Join ([link removed])
| ** Renew ([link removed])
| ** Bookstore ([link removed])
Copyright © 2021 National Association of Scholars, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website, membership or donation forms, contact forms at events, or by signing open letters.
Our mailing address is:
National Association of Scholars
420 Madison Avenue
7th Floor
New York, NY 10017-2418
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.
