Rubio Allegedly Looking to Investigate Harvard’s Hosting of a CCP-Linked Notorious Paramilitary Group

Investigation Recommended into Harvard and Chinese Group Connection

In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio advised the Treasury Department to look into reports linked to Harvard University involving officials from a respected paramilitary organization associated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as reported by The New York Times.

Harvard’s School of Public Health has been hosting a Health Insurance Conference, known as the “Health Financing Training Course,” in collaboration with the World Bank and the National Health Insurance Agency since 2019. Representatives from the Chinese state-run New Jiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) attended this event, according to the NYT.

The XPCC was sanctioned by the Ministry of Finance in 2020 due to its involvement in human rights violations against the Uyghur minority in China.

“The XPCC is a paramilitary organization from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, under the control of the CCP,” a press release stated. “The XPCC aims to increase regional internal control while pushing forward China’s economic development plan in Xinjiang, which emphasizes reliance on centralized planning and resource extraction.”

The conference is part of Harvard’s broader Harvard China Health Partnership, which seeks to enhance scholarship around the Chinese health system and improve health policies in China. Attendance sometimes topped 200.

Archived information from Harvard indicates that images featuring Chinese scripts were previously available, but, according to the NYT, references to the XPCC have been removed from the university’s site following the US government’s recognition of state-owned enterprises.

This recommendation for investigation surfaced in May, following discoveries by Harvard students about the university’s connections with the CCP amid tensions with the Trump administration over international students.