Trump targets Harvard over China ties as political pressure on elite universities intensifies

Trump targets Harvard over China ties

US President Donald Trump’s escalating war with Harvard University has now expanded beyond the initial accusations of campus antisemitism to include long-standing Republican concerns about the school’s financial and academic ties to China. At the centre of this renewed attack is a 2023 healthcare training event in Kunming, China, involving representatives of a sanctioned Chinese paramilitary organisation, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Kunming training event sparks new controversy

The event, co-hosted by Harvard professor Winnie Yip, focused on healthcare financing and included a participant from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps—a paramilitary group sanctioned by the US for human-rights abuses in Xinjiang. Trump cited the training this week in his sweeping executive order that barred Harvard from enrolling foreign students and threatened the school’s tax exemptions.

Harvard, currently battling the administration in court, has not publicly responded to the new allegations regarding the Xinjiang corps. Legal experts noted that under US sanctions law, even participation in training or services offered to the corps could expose Harvard to liability.

China ties under growing scrutiny

For Republican critics, the Kunming event has become symbolic of what they see as Harvard’s problematic financial entanglements with China. Chinese citizens make up nearly a quarter of Harvard’s international students, and donors from China and Hong Kong rank second only to those from England in terms of major foreign gifts and contracts to the university. In 2023 and 2024 alone, Harvard reported $55.6 million in large donations and $13.7 million in contracts from China and Hong Kong.

While Harvard has defended its global engagement, including through its alumni networks, it has not addressed why the Xinjiang corps took part in the healthcare programme. Congressional critics argue that such involvement could serve to whitewash human-rights abuses in Xinjiang under the guise of health and social services.

Republicans ramp up political pressure

The renewed campaign against Harvard has been led by figures such as Rep. John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on China. His recent letter to Harvard President Alan Garber accused the university of facilitating CCP abuses and raised concerns about Chinese influence in academic research, including a controversial cardiac transplant study.

US Sen. Tom Cotton and other Republicans have also called for investigations into whether Harvard violated US sanctions. The conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 blueprint recommends revoking federal funds and accreditation from universities that accept money from the Chinese Communist Party.

Administration moves to cut Harvard off

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has already moved to suspend Harvard’s participation in the student-visa programme, effectively banning foreign students from enrolling. Meanwhile, Trump’s order explicitly referenced the Xinjiang corps’ participation in the training as evidence of Harvard’s alleged complicity.

The White House has leaned on a report by the research firm Strategy Risks, which argued that Harvard’s actions undermined US efforts to combat CCP influence. The report was later cited by members of Congress in their calls for punitive measures.

Harvard’s muted response amid rising backlash

Thus far, Harvard has not answered Moolenaar’s letter or publicly clarified its role in the Kunming event. The university’s materials on the training, developed in partnership with the World Bank since the 1990s, previously mentioned Xinjiang participation but that reference was later deleted from its website.

A widely circulated photo from the 2023 event blurred out speaker nameplates, fuelling additional speculation in Congress about Harvard’s intent. However, participants, including Prof. Yip, remain identifiable.

A mounting challenge for elite academia

As Trump’s battle with Harvard intensifies, the controversy highlights a broader Republican drive to expose and penalize elite US universities for perceived entanglements with Beijing. With Trump already taking drastic administrative action and congressional allies pushing for further penalties, Harvard faces mounting pressure over its China ties—just as it fights to preserve its funding, its reputation, and its ability to host international students.