Student newspaper investigates growing concerns about espionage by China’s communist government
The Chinese Communist Party has spies at Stanford University – but many people with knowledge of the situation are too afraid to talk, according to a new investigative report by the student newspaper.
The Stanford Review based its investigation on more than a dozen interviews with faculty, students, and experts on China, concluding that “there are Chinese spies” at the California university.
The Chinese Communist Party “is orchestrating a widespread intelligence-gathering campaign” at Stanford, particularly regarding research on robotics and artificial intelligence technology, according to the report.
Many of the individuals interviewed for the piece asked to remain anonymous, “citing fears of retaliation” from the Chinese government and being labeled “racist” by the university community, the report states.
About 1,100 Chinese international students study at Stanford, and some of them absolutely report information to their home government, one anonymous source told the newspaper:
Under its Made in China 2025 plan, China aims to unseat the US as the dominant force in frontier technologies. Such a plan necessitates substantial technology transfers from America’s research institutions. Given its dominance in AI, Stanford is academic target number one. …
According to Stanford experts on Chinese intelligence-gathering efforts who wished to remain anonymous, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has employed a ‘crowdsourced approach’ to gathering information at Stanford. Dubbed ‘non-traditional collection,’ the Chinese Ministry for State Security (MSS) uses civilians unaffiliated with the intelligence community to acquire and report sensitive information. The aim of non-traditional collectors isn’t necessarily to steal classified documents but rather to quietly extract the know-how behind American innovation.
This includes conclusions from Stanford research projects, methodologies, software, lab workflows, collaborative structures, and even communication channels. Stanford faculty speaking anonymously stated that this non-traditional collection of sensitive technology is extensively practiced at Stanford, particularly in AI and robotics.
Some Chinese students feel compelled to report due to threats against themselves and their families, other sources told the newspaper.
“Many Chinese [nationals] have handlers; they [CCP] want to know everything that’s going on at Stanford. This is a very normal thing. They just relay the information they have,” one told the Review.
An expert who did agree to be named, Matthew Turpin, also confirmed this.
“If students have access to things the government would like access to, it is relatively easy to reach out to an individual. They use carrots and sticks. If you turn over information, you may get a reward; if you don’t, there is a punishment,” the former U.S. National Security Council’s Director for China and Hoover Institution fellow told the newspaper.
In March, U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar sent a letter to Stanford President Jonathan Levin, asking for information about the university’s ties to the Asian country.
Moolenaar, who chairs the Select Committee on the CCP, cited a 2024 investigation that found “instances where American researchers, benefiting from federally funded programs, have enabled China to achieve significant technological advancements in critical and emerging technologies.”
He also is advocating for a bill in Congress that would require higher education institutions to report if they receive as little as $1 in funding from China, The College Fix reported.
Stanford and other prestigious institutions receive millions of dollars from China annually. A 2023 report by the Washington Free Beacon found Chinese entities donated more than $27 million to the university in just two years.
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MORE: Communist China heavily funds Harvard, Stanford, other universities: report
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: An image of a Chinese spy. M_Sur/Shutterstock
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