EU seeks faster China de-risking with new diversification tool

A Republican lawmaker has requested the Pentagon add 58 Chinese universities and 62 technology laboratories to a "national security threat" list, citing Beijing's opposition as "Cold War-style overreach." House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar wrote to US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, urging the Pentagon to include prestigious Chinese institutions in the Section 1286 list.

The letter, dated October 1 and made public this week, expresses concerns that such a move could harm US-China scientific collaboration and impede American innovation. Among the institutions proposed for the list is Tsinghua University, an elite university with connections to major US tech companies like Nvidia, Apple, and AMD. The Pentagon's 2019 National Defence Authorisation Act created the list to identify foreign institutions and talent recruitment programmes posing a risk to US research.

Critics argue that expanding the list to include prominent civilian universities may significantly affect broader scientific collaborations between the US and China.