Harvard Trained Members of Sanctioned Chinese Group Tied to Uyghur Genocide

Harvard-trained affiliates of U.S.-sanctioned Chinese paramilitary XPCC linked to Uyghur Genocide.

By Uyghur Times Staff

May 3, 2025

Harvard University has quietly provided advanced training to members of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC)—a powerful Chinese paramilitary and economic organization sanctioned by the United States for its direct role in the Uyghur genocide—even after those sanctions were imposed.

The XPCC, commonly known as the Bingtuan, functions as both a quasi-military force and a major state-owned enterprise under strict Chinese Communist Party control in the Uyghur homeland (officially designated as Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region).

 In July 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce placed the XPCC on the Entity List, and the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned it under the Global Magnitsky Act for serious human rights violations, including mass arbitrary detention, forced labor, forced assimilation, and widespread surveillance targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims. These measures prohibit U.S. persons from engaging in most transactions with the XPCC.

Despite the sanctions, officials affiliated with the XPCC participated in executive education programs at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. These programs, focused on health financing, public health policy, and health system governance, were delivered in collaboration with China’s National Healthcare Security Administration. Harvard subsequently removed public references to the participation of XPCC-linked individuals from its website following media inquiries.

The issue was first brought to light by Strategy Risks, a research organization specializing in China-related business and security risks. Their findings indicate that the university proceeded with these engagements without adequately screening participants, raising serious questions about compliance with U.S. sanctions and the potential for indirect support to an entity complicit in ongoing atrocities against Uyghurs.

Experts in foreign policy and human rights have expressed alarm. “Training officials from a sanctioned entity like the XPCC risks lending legitimacy to Beijing’s campaign of repression and could even constitute material support for human rights abuses,” noted Michael Sobolik of the Hudson Institute in commentary on similar academic entanglements.

U.S. Rep.Elise Stefanik said on X:”Harvard repeatedly hosted and trained members of the CCP paramilitary group, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC)…Harvard must be held accountable.”

Harvard has stated that the inclusion of XPCC-affiliated participants was arranged by Chinese program organizers and that the university was not directly aware of their specific affiliations in all cases. However, critics—including Uyghur advocacy groups and congressional observers—argue that Harvard’s deep financial and institutional ties to China, including substantial donations and partnerships with Chinese entities, should have prompted greater due diligence given the well-documented role of the XPCC in the Uyghur genocide.

The revelations highlight broader concerns about how Western academic institutions may inadvertently normalize or provide expertise to organizations directly involved in Uyghur repression.