Uyghur human rights advocates are criticizing Harvard University for training officials from a Chinese paramilitary organization sanctioned by the U.S. government for human rights abuses, including mass detention and forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Officials from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) participated in Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s executive training programs in 2023 and 2024, according to research by the China-focused think tank Strategy Risks. The program, delivered in partnership with China’s National Healthcare Security Administration, focused on health insurance governance and public health policy. Strategy Risks’ findings were later reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned the XPCC in July 2020 under the Global Magnitsky Act, citing the organization’s central role in implementing mass surveillance, internment, and forced labor policies targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities. The sanctions prohibit U.S. individuals and institutions from engaging in most forms of cooperation with the XPCC.
“The XPCC is not a neutral administrative body—it is the paramilitary arm of the Chinese Communist Party,” Sabrina Sohail, director of advocacy and communications at Campaign for Uyghurs, told RFA. “By training its officials, Harvard risks legitimizing a system complicit in genocide.”
Sohail said that the XPCC is “complicit in forced sterilizations, organ harvesting, and unethical experiments on Uyghurs.”
“The institution’s link to XPCC officials after sanctions were imposed is not just ignorance of the U.S. law and policy; it is lending legitimacy to those responsible for mass internment, forced labor, and systemic human rights abuses,” she said.
The XPCC, also known as “Bingtuan,” operates as a quasi-military and economic body in Xinjiang. It oversees major agricultural and industrial sectors and maintains its own police force, courts, and media. U.S. officials have accused it of helping to administer detention facilities and forced labor programs central to China’s repression of Uyghurs.
The U.S. government has determined the abuses against the Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim group, amount to genocide. An estimated 1.8 million Uyghurs were interned in Xinjiang, in China’s far west, after 2017.
China denies allegations of rights abuses. Its Commerce Ministry describes XPCC as “a strategic force for national stability and border defense” that operates under “a unique management system that combines the functions of the Party, government, military, and enterprises.” It runs development zones, 16 listed companies, and more than 3,000 enterprises.
Henryk Szadziewski, director of research at the Uyghur Human Rights Project, said that U.S. institutions should understand the legal and ethical risks of working with sanctioned entities.
“The XPCC is under U.S. sanctions for atrocity crimes targeting Uyghurs,” he said. “It’s the responsibility of academic institutions in the U.S. - and elsewhere - to be aware of those sanctions and avoid any form of cooperation that could violate U.S. law or undermine human rights.”
Strategy Risks, which first reported the 2023 training, described the XPCC’s involvement as part of a broader pattern of Chinese state-linked entities seeking credibility through partnerships with Western academic institutions. Emma Barss, the group’s research director, said that American universities must take greater responsibility when it comes to foreign collaborations.
“Engagement with groups like the XPCC is not value-neutral,” Barss told RFA. “Universities need to recognize the role they play as institutions with strong cultural and political influence. They should be much more careful about the types of groups they engage with and thereby provide legitimacy to.”
Harvard did not respond to multiple requests for comment from RFA before publication. In a statement to the Free Beacon, a spokesperson from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health said the training sessions were organized in cooperation with China’s National Healthcare Security Administration, or NHSA, and that the XPCC’s inclusion was managed by Chinese authorities.
“Each year, the NHSA invites the local officials who administer health insurance and elder care programs in each administrative region of China,” the spokesperson told the Free Beacon. “In Xinjiang, that often includes officials from the XPCC.”
The spokesperson also told the Free Beacon that the program aimed to “build capacity for public officials across China to create effective insurance programs with sustainable financial models.” The course was reportedly attended by 50 to 60 local officials from various provinces each year.
Language referencing XPCC’s participation in the inaugural 2019 training was included on a Harvard website but later removed. Harvard’s communications office told the Free Beacon this was part of a broad website overhaul that affected multiple departments.
The controversy comes as Harvard faces growing scrutiny over its ties to foreign governments, including China. Between 2019 and 2022, the university received nearly $70 million from Chinese sources, more than from any other country, according to U.S. Department of Education data cited by college newspaper The Harvard Crimson.
Harvard is facing pressure from the Trump administration, which is withholding some of its federal funding over alleged antisemitism on campus. The administration is also probing its foreign ties.
Critics of Trump, however, have lauded Harvard’s willingness to stand up for academic freedom as the administration seeks more influence over its operations.
Bill Ackman, a prominent Harvard donor, publicly commented on the XPCC reports on X (formerly Twitter), writing: “This is not a good look for @Harvard. Harvard should immediately address these accusations and provide transparency to prove they are not correct—or alternatively, explain how this was allowed to occur.”
Edited by Mat Pennington.
