In an exclusive report published on the first day of the New Year, The Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun revealed that at least 44 researchers have participated in China’s “Thousand Talents Program,” including teaching and doing research at universities linked to the Chinese military. Courtesy of Yang Haiying
Japanese media have revealed that at least 44 local researchers have participated in China’s “Thousand Talents Program,” receiving large amounts of research funding from their home countries and teaching in China, including at military-linked universities, for high amounts of money. The Japanese government intends to follow the U.S. lead this year in introducing a series of regulatory measures, including requiring Japanese researchers to disclose their acceptance of overseas funding and recruitment. Some Japanese scholars have criticized the scholars participating in the “Thousand Talents Program” for “valuing interests over values,” and if Japan does not intercept them, it will not only endanger its own security, but even leave a loophole for the international alliance for democracy.
The Yomiuri Shimbun exclusively revealed that at least 44 Japanese researchers have participated in China’s “Thousand Talents Program” to recruit overseas talents, and some Japanese researchers have received substantial research funding from their own governments while teaching at universities associated with the Chinese military.
In order to prevent the leakage of important technologies related to economic and security technologies in Japan, the Japanese government has established a policy that requires researchers who have received Japanese government funding to disclose their activities overseas.
According to interviews conducted by the Yomiuri Shimbun, 24 researchers have acknowledged their participation in the “Thousand Talents Program” and have received recognition. In addition, the report also learned from the official websites of Japanese universities or the personal websites of those involved that 20 people were involved in the “Thousand Talents Program. According to the report, the reason for Japanese researchers to participate in the “Thousand Talents Program” may be that many researchers are interested in the program to ensure that researchers can receive high research funding, and researchers may also be because the research environment covered by the “Thousand Talents Program” is more attractive than Japan. It is also possible that researchers are more attracted to the research environment covered by the Thousand Talents Program than Japan.
Over the past 10 years, 13 of the 44 Japanese researchers involved have received research funding from the Japanese government, totaling 4.5 billion yen, including one Japanese researcher who was approved for 760 million yen and taught at a university in coastal China.
Of the 44 confirmed researchers, eight teach at the “Defense 7” schools associated with the Chinese military, and five are former members of Japanese academic conferences and have collaborated with Japanese academics.
Beijing is using “civil-military integration” as one of its national strategies, using cutting-edge civilian technology to strengthen its military, develop and introduce state-of-the-art weapons, and reinforce hegemonic behavior around Japan. The Japanese government is very concerned about the outflow of technology for military purposes to China, which would worsen Japan’s national security.
Four of the Japanese researchers teach at the University of Science and Technology in Beijing, one of the “Seven Schools of National Defense,” which is also known as one of the “top research institutions in weapons science. The researchers work at the Robotics Research Center, where they teach artificial intelligence (AI), robotic engineering and neuroscience that can be used to build robots. The center is listed on its official website as having been working on ballistic missile guidance, as well as dual-use robots.
The U.S. Department of Justice earlier found that China’s “Thousand Talents Program” paid researchers to steal classified information in violation of export control regulations. The U.S. Department of Energy requires researchers who receive more than a certain amount of funding from overseas to disclose relevant information, but also prohibits companies and universities that use the Department of Energy budget and other related personnel to participate in foreign recruitment programs.
In Japan, however, there are currently no regulations or controls to monitor participants in the “Thousand Talents Program,” and Japan has no way of knowing the actual situation. Tokyo intends to establish guidelines this year based on U.S. practices and require researchers to disclose information when participating in overseas talent recruitment programs or receiving foreign funding for research projects funded by the Japanese government.
Yang Haiying, a professor of anthropology at Shizuoka University in Japan, told the station that on a national level, Japan, which has a history of World War II aggression, has adopted an appeasing attitude toward China for many years and is not defensive in terms of technology. Some researchers have used the excuse that technology is for everyone and have switched to China, which offers money as bait, while ignoring the fact that these technologies have been used by the Chinese Communist Party to violate human rights.
Yang Haiying said: Japan has fallen very badly, in China’s “1,000 people program” is very deep, not only 44 people. It’s not just 44 people. You never think about what your science and technology will be used for if you let a dictator use it. They used all the technology of face recognition images, including Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and the Chinese mainland. In fact is China to give money to the more, they will run over there, what science and technology, what for humanity, he actually did not think, is to make money.
Yang Haiying also said that Japan has also been constantly subject to Chinese bullying in recent years, so finally realized that the flow of technology to the dictatorship of the country’s security risks, he estimated that Japan will launch control measures.
Yang Haiying said: Japan now also recognizes that this is a big problem, it appeased the traitor after many years, and now has come to its face, its head, it has to take this seriously.
French commentator Wang Longmeng criticized Japan’s slow response to the “Thousand Talents Program” and the role of these “profit-over-value” researchers as enablers.
Wang Longmeng said: Beijing will always hide its intelligence and espionage war under the cloak of legitimate academic exchange, and China’s “Thousand Talents Program” is one of the models. Do these Japanese researchers not understand the purpose of the high salaries paid to them by China? Technology can improve human welfare in a democracy, but in an authoritarian China, where we see technologies like facial recognition turning China into Orwell’s 1984, and where enhanced military technology gives China the leverage to bully Taiwan and other neighbors, these researchers are playing the role of enablers for profit.
Wang also pointed out that if Japan does not close the loopholes created by the “Thousand Talents Project,” it may leave a risk for the “Quadripartite Dialogue” countries and even for a larger democratic alliance.
Wang Longmeng said: Japan is one of the Quadripartite Dialogue countries, which is known as “Asia’s mini-NATO” and is considered an important alliance to stop the Communist Party’s foreign expansion. Allied countries can share information and technology with each other. If Japan becomes a loophole for the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate and steal secrets, this will affect the role of the alliance. Japan must put in place regulations and measures not only to protect its own interests, but also to preserve the democratic alliance.
According to the official website of China’s “Thousand Talents Program,” in December 2008, the Central Organization Department, the United Front Work Department, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Science and Technology joined forces to “introduce high-level overseas talents and support their return to China to start their own businesses. Since its implementation, the program has attracted more than 7,000 high-level overseas Chinese talents as of 2018. In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party has ordered the official media to suspend publicity and coverage of the Thousand Talents Program, but the selection program continues.
In June 2020, a U.S. Senate subcommittee held a hearing to reveal the espionage mission behind China’s “Thousand Talents Program,” in which U.S. defense and intelligence officials said that the CCP’s goal in promoting the “Thousand Talents Program” was to take over U.S. intellectual property, technology and other assets through legal and illegal means. The purpose of the Thousand Talents Program is to transfer U.S. intellectual property and technology to China through legal and illegal means. The U.S., Australia, Germany and others have been among the hardest hit by the program. The U.S. has arrested and investigated several experts involved in the Thousand Talents Program, including Charles Lieber, a chemistry professor at Harvard University.
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