China urges US to end 'discriminatory' restrictions on research institutions
China's Commerce Ministry called on the US to stop discriminatory measures against Chinese research institutions, saying they undermine scientific cooperation. The comments follow a Republican lawmaker's call to add 58 Chinese schools and 62 tech labs to a Pentagon list restricting research funding,
China's Commerce Ministry on Friday urged the United States to "respect the facts" and immediately end what it called discriminatory measures against Chinese research institutions, stressing that strengthening bilateral scientific research cooperation serves the common interest of both sides.
The comments came after the US Department of Defense imposed research funding restrictions on dozens of Chinese universities. Earlier this month, a Republican lawmaker called on the department to add 58 more Chinese schools and 62 Chinese technology laboratories to what is known as the 1286 list, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.
Several of the Chinese labs and schools named by the lawmaker focus on areas such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence and quantum computing, the letter said.
"The US's actions are essentially coercing US research institutions to take sides, deliberately undermining normal China-US scientific research cooperation," the Commerce Ministry said in a statement. "This will only weaken the US's own scientific and technological progress."
The Department of Defense, which US President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth call the Department of War, is barred from providing research funding to any entity that works with Chinese universities on the list. The department says collaboration with schools on the list is a compliance issue that puts US federal funding at risk.