Thread by @isaacstonefish

Breaking: Harvard may have committed a sanctions violation by training a Chinese paramilitary organization responsible for genocide in Xinjiang. This has not been previously reported. What happened? How did Harvard get here? Thread below.

In 2014, the Chan family -- well-connected Hong Kong real estate tycoons -- donated $350 million to the Harvard Public Health School, and Harvard renamed the school in their honor. Gerald Chan called the donation a “gift unsolicited, unrestricted, and unexpected.”

And yet, the gift introduced meaningful vectors of influence from the PRC into Harvard. We go into great detail about these vectors in our report, here: strategyrisks.com/press/report-b…

How did it lead to a possible sanctions violation? In 2018, the Chan School formalized partnerships with seven PRC institutions through the Harvard
China Health Partnership (HCHP). The HCHP trains CPC officials -- including, in 2019 and 2023, officials from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC).

The XPCC is a paramilitary organization and the arm of the Communist Party that is most responsible for abuses in Xinjiang. A massive desert region in far west China, Xinjiang is home to the Uyghur people.

China has implemented a campaign of forced sterilization, mass detention, and forced labor against the Uyghur population: in January 2021, the State Department averred that Beijing is committing genocide against the Uyghurs, a declaration since repeated by the Canadian Parliament, and the Dutch Parliament, among others.

Perhaps Harvard inviting the XPCC in 2019 is excusable. Indeed, it was only in 2020 that the United States began to sanction the XPCC -- the organization now faces at least four separate U.S. government sanctions. And perhaps one could expect Harvard to learn its lesson: in December 2021, the Harvard chemistry professor Charles Lieber was convicted of failing to declare money paid as part of a Chinese recruiting program, and for making false statements to the U.S. government.

But Harvard doubled down. In October 2023 it held another training session with the XPCC. This time, it didn’t include the XPCC’s presence anywhere on its website – a Party organization disclosed it instead. The World Bank didn’t attend, but Harvard did. In a statement to me, Harvard admitted to training the XPCC. The “goal with these trainings is straightforward,” the spokesperson wrote. “To build capacity for public officials across China to create effective insurance programs with sustainable financial models so that all people across China can get access to high-quality health care.” The training, according to the Party’s National Healthcare Security Administration, “brought out the best of both sides.”

There is so much more here, with Harvard, and with other American universities China exposure. Stay tuned for more.