Colin Kahl – President Biden’s pick for Under Secretary of Defense for Policy – led a Stanford University center with a “years-long” relationship with the Chinese Communist Party and People’s Liberation Army, including attending conferences “sponsored” by the Chinese government.
Kahl joined the center in January 2018 as a Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, serving as Co-Director of the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC).
The appointment followed his work as National Security Advisor to then-Vice President Biden – also earning him a gig as Strategic Consultant at the University of Pennsylvania’s Biden Center.
In addition to Stanford University “massively” underreporting “millions of dollars in anonymous Chinese donations received,” Kahl’s center has an exceptionally close relationship with the Chinese Communist Party.
Chinese Military Links.
According to a National Committee on U.S.-China Relations (NCUSCR) report, CISAC has hosted fellows from a host of Chinese military and government-linked entities, including those flagged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for espionage and blacklisted by the U.S. government:
CISAC hosts visiting fellows from numerous foreign countries, including a number of Chinese scholars in residence with the Project on Peace and Cooperation. […] Fellows coming from China to the Project on Peace and Cooperation at CISAC have come from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, the China Academy of Engineering Physics (the Ninth Academy), the Central Party School, the National Defense University, and the Foreign Ministry.
One entity – the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences – has been used as a “front group for Chinese intelligence collection and overseas spy recruitment,” according to the FBI.
The FBI has described the Chinese Communist Party as relying on SASS employees as “spotters and assessors” of potential Western spies. Ministry of State Security officers – described by the FBI as keen on “influencing the foreign policy of other countries” – have also “used SASS affiliation as cover identities.”
The China Academy of Engineering Physics has been blacklisted by the U.S. Department of Commerce for its close ties to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) – a threat also shared by the participating school, PLA National Defence University.
And the Central Party School – an “institute of higher learning that trains the party’s senior and mid-tier leadership cadres and Marxist-theory cadres” – and Foreign Ministry are also comprised solely of Chinese government apparatchiks.
The center has also hosted speakers from state-run universities.
Chinese Government Links.
Stanford’s CISAC also attended a conference in Beijing “hosted and co-sponsored” by the Chinese Communist Party’s Foreign Ministry.
One Stanford fellow noted the “years-long exchanges” between the groups, adding they’d “develop joint blueprints” on matters such as space cooperation:
“The exchanges were frank and constructive because they built on the foundation of understanding and trust developed through years-long exchanges between CISAC and China Institute of International Studies (CIIS). In the next phase, small teams of American and Chinese experts will develop joint blueprints to enhance understanding of issues critical for nuclear stability and space cooperation.”
“Although held at a time of uncertainty about the future of U.S.-China relations, the conference included constructive exchanges on strategic stability, obstacles to cooperation in space, and other sensitive topics,” the fellow added.
Stanford’s Chinese counterparts at the conference “came from a variety of institutions – CIIS, China Academy of Engineering Physics, PLA Rocket Force, Rocket Force College, China Defense Science and Technology Information Center, PLA Navy Academy of Military Science, PLA South Command, Chinese Academy of Social Science, Renmin University of China, National Defense University, Tsinghua University, etc. ”
The unearthed collaboration with Chinese military entities also comes on the heels of a Stanford researcher’s indictment by the U.S. Department of Justice for failing to reveal her PLA ties.
