Breitbart News hosted a policy event Thursday examining threats posed by China and the Chinese Communist Party, including discussion of intellectual property theft and cases involving U.S. universities and research institutions.
During the event, titled China: The Threats You Know About and the Ones You Don’t, on March 26, Washington Bureau Chief Matt Boyle asked about the Chinese Communist Party’s use of intellectual property theft to expand its influence and target the United States, including incidents involving American companies, researchers, and universities.
Cotton responded, “It’s pervasive. The FBI said over multiple directors, they have many open cases in every single one of their field offices, including in places like Arkansas. You know, Chinese nationals are under indictment for stealing advanced rice genome technology. There’s a professor at the University of Arkansas that was charged for being complicit with China.”
He added that such cases are not isolated incidents but part of a broader pattern, stating, “Most of these cases, they’re winning, and they understand what they’re doing.”
Cotton attributed some of the vulnerabilities within U.S. institutions to what he described as a cultural approach within academia that prioritizes openness. “Oftentimes, I think it’s a product of a kind of naive academic mindset of, like, open science,” he said.
The senator also extended his concerns beyond universities to include federally funded research facilities. “Unfortunately, it happens at our national labs as well. You’d be shocked at thousands of Chinese and Russian nationals that are running around Department of Energy’s national labs in the name of open science,” Cotton said.
He contrasted this openness with what he characterized as a lack of reciprocity from China. “Last I checked, we haven’t been sending any of our scientists into China’s equivalent of national labs,” he said.
Cotton emphasized that the issue, in his view, stems from an institutional gap in security awareness. “But again, it’s because there’s not really a security mindset in places like our labs or the National Science Foundation or most universities,” he said.
While acknowledging the expertise of researchers and academics, Cotton suggested that additional perspectives may be needed to address national security risks. “They’re full of PhDs that do a lot of great work in their areas of specialty. They could probably use someone, a veteran of the FBI or CIA, to help open their eyes to the threat of Chinese espionage, their work,” he said.
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