Chinese Companies Are Buying American Military Academies, Lawmaker Warns

Institutions with JROTC programs now owned by firms with ties to Chinese Communist Party

Chinese firms with ties to the Chinese Communist Party have in recent years purchased American military academies that operate military officer training programs.

In 2015, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which serves as the Chinese Communist Party's political advisory board, purchased Donald Trump's alma mater, the New York Military Academy, for $16 million dollars. Conference member Mo Tianquan secured the purchase after a bidding war with another Chinese conglomerate.

Two years later, a Chinese education conglomerate purchased the Florida Preparatory Academy as part of its plan to create "a global educational alliance system." The organization partnered with a CCP-controlled regional government agency on the initiative. Both the New York Military Academy and Florida Preparatory Academy operate Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) programs, which train future military officers.

Rep. Michael Waltz (R., Fla.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, says Chinese ownership of these schools could pose a national security threat.

"To the extent that those private schools have junior ROTC programs that are forming the backbone of our future leaders of our military, this is something I would hope and would expect the Defense Department would work with me to better understand," Waltz told the Washington Free Beacon.

Waltz on Tuesday sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, urging the Pentagon to survey JROTC programs at private schools across the country to see if they are foreign-owned.

"With the ongoing military recruitment crisis, I am concerned that any students we recruit into the service from these CCP-influenced schools will have a sympathetic view of China's political and strategic aims," Waltz, who chairs the House subcommittee on military readiness, wrote to Austin.

The interest in American private schools has led to speculation about China's motives, as Beijing has ramped up its infiltration of...

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