By Uyghur Times Staff May 3, 2025
Harvard University quietly trained members of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC)—a Chinese paramilitary group sanctioned by the U.S. for its role in the Uyghur genocide—even after the sanctions took effect.
The XPCC, which operates in the Uyghur homeland under Chinese Communist Party control, was sanctioned in 2020 for its involvement in mass abuses, including forced labor and internment camps. Despite this, Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health trained XPCC officials in 2023 and 2024 through a health financing program with China’s National Healthcare Security Administration. Harvard later removed references to XPCC participants from its website.
Foreign policy experts warn the university could face legal consequences. “Training the XPCC risks complicity in Beijing’s atrocities,” said Michael Sobolik of the Hudson Institute.
The report was first revealed by Strategy Risks, a China-focused research group. Harvard blamed the inclusion of XPCC on Chinese organizers, but critics say the university should have known better, especially given its deep financial ties with Beijing, including $70 million in Chinese funding between 2019 and 2022.
Harvard has also trained hundreds of Chinese officials in recent years and partners with several Chinese universities linked to the Chinese military.
