In 2015, the New York Military Academy (NYMA), a 126-year-old preparatory school that was the alma mater of former President Donald Trump, was sold for nearly $16 million to the Research Center on Natural Conservation, a non-profit backed by a Chinese holding company. Two years later, the Florida Preparatory Academy in Melbourne, Florida, suffered the same fate when a Chinese education conglomerate purchased it as part of its plan to create "a global educational alliance system." (Related: China continues to snatch up US farmland, American companies at alarming rates.)
Both the NYMA and Florida Prep have strong Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) programs to train future officers of the United States Armed Forces.
Chinese state-owned media outlets claim that Chinese corporations are interested in entering the American private school market "in the hopes of cashing in on Chinese students' quest for admission into a U.S. college."
The think tank the Center for Immigration Studies noted that foreign students are more likely to obtain F-1 immigration visas if they apply to attend private schools. This acceptance rate is likely to go even higher if they sign up to become students at Chinese-owned institutions like the NYMA and Florida Prep. Officials from the former even said they expected a surge of Chinese students to enroll following its takeover.
Chinese ownership of schools and military academies a threat to national security
In a statement to the Washington Free Beacon, Republican Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida's sixth district, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, noted that Chinese ownership of schools with strong JROTC programs could pose a real threat to American national security interests.
"To the extent that those private schools have junior ROTC programs that are forming the backbone of the future leaders of our military, this is something I would hope and would expect the Defense Department would work with me to better understand," said Waltz.
To this end, Waltz on Tuesday, Jan. 31, sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin urging the department to survey how many JROTC programs at private schools across the country are owned by foreign entities.
"With the ongoing military recruitment crisis, I am concerned that any students we recruit into the service from these CCP-influenced schools will have a sympathetic view of China's political and strategic aims," said Waltz in his letter to Austin.
In 2021, records show that Chinese firms and government institutions secured over $120 million in contracts with American universities.
From 2013 to 2020, about 115 colleges and universities received nearly $1 billion in monetary gifts, contracts or both from entities located in mainland China. Harvard University led the pack with nearly $94 million, the majority received in the form of gifts.
China's influence in the American education sector is only growing, fueling speculation regarding China's motives and how many other educational institutions have been successfully infiltrated by the CCP.
Without any significant change in government policy regarding the foreign ownership of American institutions, it is very likely that Chinese corporations will only continue. Waltz himself noted that he is concerned that the Pentagon's resources "are inadvertently helping promote and support these schools," and that the reality of Chinese ownership of American private schools should serve as a "wake-up call."
Read the latest news concerning China at CommunistChina.news.
Watch this clip from InfoWars as Alex Jones talks to former Green Beret Ivan Raiklin about how the CCP captured the American government.
This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.
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University that housed Biden center pressed to end FBI China spy probe after big Beijing donations.
Biden Center at UPenn received $54.6M from anonymous Chinese donations.
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