Chinese Spies at UW?

This post is long over due. With more and more reports coming in, it is becoming evident that Chinese students across the world are participating in espionage on many levels.

One report from Space Daily says that Chinese students in Europe are running an industrial spy ring.

The ring, the sources said, uses a group of students and internship seekers as a "front organization", with no obvious links to Chinese diplomats, and dozens of these agents are planted around northern Europe.

The report listed the Netherlands, Britain, Germany and France as places where the ring is operating and said that "it is trying today to plant moles in central
Europe."

The reports spread beyond Europe. According to one defector in Australia, that country may have more than 1,000 Chinese spies alone, most of which are students.

Chen Yonglin, a Chinese diplomat who recently defected in Australia, claimed Beijing had as many as 1,000 spies in Australia alone.

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China has sent 600,000 students overseas in the past 25 years as part of a conscious policy of developing its science, technology and business skills.

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"It is very easy for Chinese companies or intelligence agencies to approach these students - who are often quite nationalistic - and get them to collect information that might be of either commercial or military interest," said Christian le Miere, Asia Editor of Jane's Country Risk.

The spy network is even more entrenched in America. According to the Epoch Times, there may be countless spies in America.

According to Xu Wenli, a pro-democracy advocate who was jailed for 12 years in China, the CCP actively recruits and sends students abroad to gather information for the government. Some of these students then move on to work for military and government contractors here in the U.S. all the while, gathering and sending information back to the CCP.

Now, I will beg the question, are there spies at UW Madison? The Chinese Government would be stupid not to send dozens here. UW has one of the best stem cell labs in the nation and is one of only a few dozen campuses with a nuclear reactor on it. With the expressed goal of collecting both industrial and military knowledge, it would make sense to steal UW work.

Furthermore, UW - Madison receives nearly 500 million dollars of federal funding and ranks in in the 10 ten for federal funding. There is a huge amount of research done at UW and there is nothing stopping a spy from working on, and copying lab results to send back to China, a nation that does not respect IP rights in the least.

So, what can be done? Here are my recommendations:

1. All foreign nationals at UW Madison should have to sign a pledge saying that they are not a spy and will not convey any sensitive information back to their home country. Any student that is found in violation to this pledge or refuses to sign it will not get a renewed student visa and will be sent from the country.

2. Certain labs (especially at the Graduate level) should require a background check that focuses on national ties and accesses security risks.

3. All foreign students should have to take a three credit "American History" course that emphasizes American accomplishments and contributions to the world (to broaden horizons).

PHT: BV