EXCLUSIVE — A grassroots advocacy group is calling on
Virginia’s governor
to
investigate revelations
that the top public high school in the United States received hundreds of thousands of dollars from groups tied to
China’s military
and government.
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST), part of
Fairfax
County
Public Schools in Virginia,
partnered with Tsinghua University High School (TUHS) to assist it and China generally
with adopting the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and advanced lab research TJHSST is famous for. TUHS is closely tied to Tsinghua University,
considered
by the Pentagon to be a Chinese military university.
THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL COLLABORATED WITH CHINESE MILITARY-AFFILIATED ORG
The nonprofit organization Parents Defending Education (PDE)
helped unearth
the Chinese funding for TJHSST and is now calling on Gov. Glenn Youngkin and
Virginia attorney general
Jason Miyares to investigate the saga, according to letters provided to the Washington Examiner.
PDE called on Youngkin to “promptly investigate foreign funding” to TJHSST and to “act swiftly to remedy any unlawful policies and practices.” The group also requested that Miyares “investigate the relationship between Fairfax County Public Schools, the TJ Partnership Fund, and funding by Chinese government-linked entities.”
“Our members are concerned about past and current funding streams into the TJ Partnership Fund from foreign entities and the access to school facilities and documents that may have been granted to said parties in exchange,” PDE told the Virginia attorney general.
The Thomas Jefferson Partnership Fund (TJPF)
received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Tsinghua University
as part of this agreement. TJPF also received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Ameson Education and Cultural Exchange Foundation as well as the Chinese company Shirble, which were both led by men tied to China’s United Front Work Department, which manages Chinese government foreign influence campaigns.
TJPF
exists
to support the Virginia school, and the fund’s
board of directors
includes
TJ’s principal, assistant principal, faculty representatives, and the head of TJ’s parent-teacher association.
The Virginia school
said
in November 2014 that TJHSST “will be partnering with” TUHS as the fund announced, “Tsinghua University made a $300,000 donation.” The Chinese university was dubbed a “Jefferson Founding Partner.” The TJ fund said, “Tsinghua University is interested in introducing a specialized STEM track in its network of high schools, including TUHS, and is hoping eventually to establish a Tsinghua International STEM High School in Beijing.”
TUHS
says
it is “attached” to Tsinghua University and is “directly under the Ministry of Education.” TUHS’s principal
noted
the school is “under the guidance” of the CCP, and leaders of the TUHS include CCP officials. TUHS International’s advisory board also
includes
Mao Daqing, part of the “United Front Work Department of CCP Central Committee.”
Both the TJ fund and the Chinese military-linked high school have written repeatedly about visits TJ faculty made to TUHS and that TUHS and Tsinghua University faculty made to the Virginia school. The TJ fund
said
in March 2015 that “Tsinghua Faculty learns the TJ way.” TUHS
says
it “cooperated” with TJHSST, “whose high-end laboratory systems were introduced to TUHS.”
Ameson was also
named
among the “Jefferson Founding Partners & International Partners” in 2015 for a donation of $250,000 or above, and in 2016 for a
similar donation
. Its
tax records show
its “founder and chairman” was Sean Wuhua Zhang.
Zhang is
listed
as a “deputy director of the Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Overseas Chinese Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial Political Consultative Conference.”
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission
said
in 2018 the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference is “under the leadership of the CCP” and is “the highest-ranking entity overseeing the United Front system.”
The Chinese government-linked Ambright Education Group helped set up the “Thomas Schools of China” — modeled off of TJHSST. Ambright also counts Zhang as a “dean.” Ambright said the “Thomas Schools of China” came about through “collaboration” with TJHSST, and its 2019 recruitment flyer said it was “establishing Thomas Schools of China” in Shanghai, Hefei, Jinan, and Nanjing by incorporating “advanced school operations” from TJHSST.
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The Thomas Schools
emphasize
they are “modeled after the curriculum” of TJHSST and aim to “support the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” Its steering committee includes former Chinese government officials.
Shirble, seemingly just a Chinese department store, had as
chairman
Yang Xiangbo, a “member” of multiple sessions of the “National Committee” of multiple sessions of the United Front’s “Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.” The TJ fund said Shirble
donated
at least $500,000 in fiscal 2018.
