US lawmakers warn against takeover of 2 military academies by China

Washington:

US lawmakers have warned the Pentagon about the acquisition of military training academies in the US by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), reports the Washington Free Beacon.

This is considered dangerous because future army cadets trained in these CCP-influenced military schools may have a softer side to China’s strategies and objectives, reports The Washington Free Beacon.

The report claimed that in 2015 the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory board for the CCP, bought the New York Military Academy for $16 million after a bidding war with another Chinese group.

In 2017 a Chinese education group reportedly bought Florida Preparatory Academy to form a global educational alliance system. Both these military academies train military officers for the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) and the US Army.

A Chuck Ross report for the Washington Free Beacon quoted Michael Waltz, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a member of the US military, as saying that “Chinese ownership of these schools could pose a threat to national security”. .

Waltz told Washington, “To the extent that those private schools have JROTC programs that are building the backbone of the future leaders of our military, that is something that I hope and expect the US Department of Defense to do.” Will work with me.” Free Beacon.

Waltz also wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, urging the Pentagon to survey JROTC programs in private schools across the country to see whether they are foreign-owned.

In the letter, he noted that “with the ongoing military recruitment crisis, I am concerned that any students we recruit into service from these CCP-influenced schools will be sympathetic to China’s political and strategic objectives”.

The Ross report also claims that these purchases of US military academies have raised concerns about the CCP’s intentions, as it has already increased its efforts to infiltrate US universities, think tanks and other spheres of influence. Is.

The Department of Defense has awarded contracts worth more than USD 475,000 for various cadet programs to the New York Military Academy since the Chinese takeover, according to a federal expenditure database.

A company called Fang Holdings, which owns a majority stake in the New York Military Academy, is owned by Mo Fang, who has ties to the CCP. In 2018, Mo said that he was “greatly honored” to be a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which he confirmed was “under the leadership of the Communist Party of China”. At the New York Military Academy, Mo installed many of his Chinese business partners on the historic school’s board of trustees.

China’s Newopen Group has owned Florida Preparatory Academy since 2017. A year prior to this purchase, it had signed a strategic partnership with the CCP-affiliated municipal agency Chongqing Environmental Investment Group. The report claimed that it was to build a network in China, North America, Europe and Australia.

The same Ross report also noted that the two schools purchased by the CCP have not responded to requests for comment on the matter.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)