Pompeo Urges US Universities to Watch Against China Tech Theft

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for more vigilance on college campuses to prevent technology theft by Chinese interests (see 2008130036) and warned of increasing attempts by China to recruit professors, researchers and students. Pompeo said some of China’s “high-end industrial base” is “based on stolen technology,” including research theft from American universities. “We cannot allow this tyrannical regime to steal our stuff, to build their military might and brainwash our people, or buy off our institutions to help them cover up these activities,” Pompeo said Dec. 9 at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “We need researchers to be vigilant against fraud and theft, and the academic community to reject [China’s] financial siren songs.”

China’s Foreign Ministry called Pompeo’s comments “wrong, disgraceful and intolerable.” “It fully exposed his malign intent to deliberately sabotage China-U.S. friendship and cooperation,” the spokesperson said Dec. 10 in response to a question during a regular press conference, according to a transcript.