The US Capitol building is seen in Washington, DC., on November 4, 2022. Photo: Xinhua

A report, released by a US House committee claimed that hundreds of millions of dollars in US federal research funding over the last decade has contributed to China's technological advancements and military modernization, to which Chinese observers on Tuesday slammed such smear as an old cliché aimed at stifling China's technological advancement and hyping up the "China threat" narrative.

The report released on Monday by the Republican members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, claimed that collaborations between Chinese entities and US-funded researchers and universities have significantly contributed to China's progress in critical areas such as hypersonic and nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors, according to the New York Times. 

It stated that around 9,000 joint research publications, funded either by the Department of Defense or the Intelligence Community, were co-authored by individuals with ties to China's "defense and security apparatus."

House Republicans argued that these research publications could potentially be weaponized against the US in the event of a conflict with China, according to Fox News.

The report calls for stricter regulations on federally funded research and limiting the opportunities for researchers receiving US grants to collaborate with Chinese universities and companies that have military connections. 

This is part of the US anti-China rhetoric, repeating the same old cliché of smearing China, Lü Xiang, an expert on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

The US has been hyping up the normal exchanges between China and the US, particularly since 2018, Lü noted.

Another Chinese military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Tuesday that the US is once again overstretching the concept of national security and hyping the "China threat" narrative.

Scientific and technological researches by themselves are neutral and many of the projects are not military-backed, and it is the US that unilaterally labeled them with so-called military applications, the expert said.

It is worth noting that the US report significantly exaggerates its own scientific research capabilities while downplaying China's research and development achievements, Lü said, adding that China is in a leading position in many areas of the scientific research, especially in large-scale applications and integrated applications. 

The House report examined several joint China-based institutes between Chinese and American universities, including the University of California, Berkeley and Georgia Institute of Technology. Both Berkeley and Georgia Tech disputed many of the report's findings, according to the New York times. 

The smear campaign against China's independent, innovative technology developments serves to further obstruct normal academic exchanges between the two countries, the military expert said.

The educational cooperation between China and the US offers significant benefits, particularly in the foundational training of students from both countries. Impeding the normal exchanges in science and technology between the two countries results in significant losses for all parties involved, Lü added.

According the US media, the Democrats on the China committee chose not to sign on to the report, saying that it was a conversation that required more nuance. "Cutting off all collaboration would not serve US interests either," reported New York Times, citing a representative for the committee's Democratic staff.

Cutting off the scientific exchanges between China and the US will result in long-term damage to the relationship between the two countries, Lü warned.