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Gates Foundation Funding China to Recruit Foreign Scientists

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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is providing financial assistance to the Ministry of Science and Technology of China in its bid to tempt foreign scientists to the country, the National Pulse reported.

The Grant

The $100,000 grant served the purpose of organizing a forum on “pandemic preparedness and response,” which would focus on “leveraging resources to improve global health and support disadvantaged populations who are disproportionately impacted by pandemic,” indicated the organization’s website.

The funds were sent to  Foreign Talent Research Center of China’s Ministry of Science and Technology in June.

The event was to be hosted by Zhongguancun Forum, the Chinese platform for the promotion of international cooperation in the field of science and technology sponsored by the China Central Committee. 

The forum has welcomed top leaders of the regime as speakers including regime leader Xi Jinping.

Warnings of China’s Threat

The foundation’s commitment to bolstering China’s scientific advancement came amid mounting warnings of the threat the regime poses to the United States and the West.

Leaders from the UK and U.S. domestic intelligence agencies delivered a rare joint statement on July 6, warning that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the greatest threat to the international order.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said the greatest challenge to the international order is the CCP, which seeks to undermine the United States, its allies, and its partners.

Meanwhile, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum detailed threats posed by the CCP in relation to covert theft, forced technology transfers, research exploitation, and cyberattacks that target virtually every sector of society.

U.S. officials have also warned that the Chinese regime uses recruitment programs, such as the “thousand talents plan,” to lure foreign academics to work in China, a process that facilitates the transfer of technology and know-how to the country.

The Trump administration in 2018 launched the “China Initiative” to combat the Chinese regime’s state-sponsored espionage and theft of trade secrets. The program led to the prosecution of some two dozen U.S. academics, most of them of Chinese origin, who were alleged to have concealed funding ties with Chinese institutions and state-backed recruitment plans.

The Biden administration shut down the program in February amid criticisms of the program as racial profiling. Thus, chilling scientific exchanges between the United States and China, surged.

Ties With Beijing

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation set up its Beijing office in 2007 and has since worked with the Chinese government on several domestic projects in the country, as reported by CNN.

Over the past three decades, Gates has visited China at least “a dozen times,” forging friendly relations with its top leaders.

In 2015, Xi Jingpin met with the Gates. Last year, Xi wrote a letter to Gates, thanking him for his efforts in combating the virus that started in the country Xi presides over. 

“I deeply appreciate the act of generosity of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and your letter of solidarity to the Chinese people at such an important moment,” the letter read.

It came after the foundation committed to fund up to $100 million for the global bid in tackling the COVID-19 outbreak.

The foundation at the time informed that it would allocate $20 million to organizations like the World Health Organization, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Protection, the National Health Commission of China, and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Andrew Thornebrooke contributed to this report.

 

Hannah Ng

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Hannah Ng is a reporter covering U.S. and China news. She holds a master’s degree in international and development economics from the University of Applied Science Berlin.



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