Jake Nichols interviews Falun Dafa’s Digital Outreach Director for Falun Gong
In a recent interview with Jake Nichols of Cowboy State Daily, Ben Maloney of Falun Dafa offered an alarming and eye-opening look into how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is penetrating the U.S. education system—specifically elite universities such as Harvard. Maloney, whose organization has long tracked the CCP’s ideological and espionage operations worldwide, laid out a detailed account of how China’s influence has gone beyond mere partnerships or academic exchanges and instead functions as a sophisticated web of surveillance, intimidation, and ideological control.
Maloney began by emphasizing that the CCP doesn’t treat American universities as neutral institutions of learning. Instead, they see them as strategic assets—both for collecting intelligence and for controlling the narrative surrounding the Party’s image abroad. According to Maloney, Chinese embassies and consulates work hand-in-hand with educational departments in Beijing to ensure that Chinese students studying overseas remain under close watch. Student associations on campus, often under the guise of cultural exchange or community support, are sometimes tasked with monitoring and reporting on the activities of their fellow students—particularly anyone suspected of anti-CCP sentiments or associations with groups like Falun Dafa, Tibetan organizations, or Hong Kong democracy activists.
State of the U.S. and China in the U.S.
Maloney pointed out that many of these associations are linked to the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA), a group that openly acknowledges its coordination with Chinese consulates. This network acts as the eyes and ears of the regime, right within U.S. campuses. The danger, according to Maloney, is twofold: not only does this undermine academic freedom, but it also creates a climate of fear among Chinese dissidents and international students who wish to speak openly about the CCP’s abuses.
The conversation also touched on how money and research play a pivotal role in this infiltration. Prestigious universities like Harvard have received millions of dollars in donations and grants from Chinese entities with direct or indirect links to the CCP. In return, there’s often a chilling effect on criticism of the regime. Maloney cited specific cases where universities declined to host speakers or shut down student-led events related to Falun Dafa or Uyghur rights, allegedly out of concern for upsetting Chinese partners or losing funding.
Maloney expressed grave concern that this entanglement is not just academic—it’s national security. He drew attention to the documented cases of intellectual property theft, dual-use technology transfers, and the recruitment of researchers who later turned out to be connected to China’s military or intelligence services. Programs such as China’s now-defunct Thousand Talents Plan were designed explicitly to lure scientists and researchers with access to sensitive U.S. technologies.
The discussion also highlighted how the CCP’s influence extends into curriculum and course content. In some cases, textbooks are edited or classes are softened on topics like the Tiananmen Square massacre or the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Confucius Institutes—once prolific across the U.S.—were often the beachheads for such soft power strategies. Though many have been closed in recent years due to backlash, the infrastructure for influence remains intact, just rebranded or relocated.
Toward the end of the interview, Maloney made it clear that the ultimate goal of the CCP is not simply to educate its citizens abroad but to control the conversation and to rewrite the moral and political framework through which China is viewed in the West. By embedding surveillance mechanisms within universities and exploiting financial dependencies, the CCP is attempting to export its censorship model to the very institutions that should be defending free inquiry and open debate.
Maloney concluded with a call for vigilance and accountability. He urged lawmakers, university officials, and the public to ask hard questions about where funding is coming from, who controls student organizations, and how academic freedom can be safeguarded. “If American universities become an extension of foreign authoritarian governments,” he said, “then they cease to be American in any meaningful sense.”
