The University of California, Berkeley, has been found to have accepted donations from a Chinese research university that is under sanctions, officials from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and a Beijing state-owned chemical company.
This information was obtained from records by the Washington Free Beacon.
This revelation comes on the heels of an investigation initiated by the Trump administration into UC Berkeley. The institution is accused of not disclosing its financial backing from China, which includes a substantial $220 million government investment in a joint research institution with Tsinghua University, as reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
The donor records, which were obtained through a California public information request, shed light on Berkeleys financial ties with China and donors linked to foreign governments.
According to the Higher Education Act's Section 117, American universities are mandated to disclose the identities and locations of foreign donors to the federal government. However, the Biden administration has been lax in enforcing this law over the past four years, keeping the names of donors hidden from the American public. As the Free Beacon reported, President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month demanding more comprehensive disclosures.
The records from Berkeley suggest that the administration's more stringent approach to foreign higher education donations could uncover some unsavory financial backers.
Among the universitys donors is the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), which donated $60,000 to Berkeleys chemistry program in 2023. The USTC was added to the U.S. Department of Commerce's sanctions list a year later for "acquiring and attempting to acquire U.S.-origin items in support of advancing China's quantum technology capabilities, which has serious ramifications for U.S. national security given the military applications of quantum technologies."
Berkeley also received $336,000 for its "research units" in 2023 from Vincent Cheung Sai Sing, a long-serving member of the National Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference for Shanghai City, an advisory body to the CCP.
The GS Charity Foundation Limited, the charitable arm of the Glorious Sun Group, donated $160,000 to Berkeley for international studies research in 2023. The chairman of the Glorious Sun Group, Charles Yeung, is also a member of the CCP national peoples committee.
Duane Ziping Kuang, the founding managing partner of China-based venture capital firm Qiming Venture Partners, donated $75,000 to Berkeleys business school. His firm was an early investor in ByteDance.
Berkeley has reported several donations from individuals associated with the People's Republic of China (PRC) as originating from other countries, as previously reported by the Free Beacon.
Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong billionaire founder of CK Hutchison, donated $5.7 million to Berkeleys biological sciences division in 2023. The funding was reported as coming from Canada, where Li Ka-shing has a foundation. Li's business empire, which has extensive ties to the Chinese government, is at the heart of the U.S.-China trade dispute over the Panama Canal.
President Trump has pointed to CK Hutchinsons ownership of the port operations of the waterway as proof that China is "operating the Panama Canal," and has pledged to reclaim it. The Chinese government, in response, threatened to damage Lis business interests if he proceeded with a plan to sell his Panama Canal operations to a consortium led by BlackRock.
In 2023 and 2024, Berkeley reported receiving $50,000 from Sky9 Capital Fund V in the Cayman Islands. Sky9 Capital, a venture capital fund focused on China, has financed ByteDance, TikTok, Meituan, and other companies closely associated with the CCP.
Syngenta, a Chinese state-owned company, donated $21,000 to Berkeleys Rausser College of Natural Resources in 2022. The university listed the money as coming from Switzerland, where Syngenta is headquartered.
A spokesman for Berkeley declined to comment on the specific donations. He stated that the university is "reviewing the Department of Education inquiry and will cooperate with its federal partners as has long been our practice. The university prioritizes direct communications with legislative committees and governmental agencies when responding to their questions and inquiries."
The revelations about Berkeley's financial ties with China and its failure to disclose these relationships raise serious questions about the university's commitment to transparency and its potential complicity in advancing the interests of the CCP. It also underscores the need for stricter enforcement of laws requiring disclosure of foreign donations to American universities.
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