EXCLUSIVE — The top public school in the United States received hundreds of thousands of dollars from groups tied to China’s military.
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST), part of Fairfax County Public Schools, is consistently ranked as the top high school in the nation. However, this element of its ties to Beijing has been largely unknown — until now.
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The prestigious school partnered with Tsinghua University High School (TUHS) in 2014 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.
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, the Chinese government’s foreign influence campaign. 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 grassroots nonprofit organization Parents Defending Education helped unearth the Chinese funding for TJHSST. The Virginia school did not respond to a request for comment. TJPF said in November 2014 that TJHS “will be partnering with” TUHS as the fund announced “Tsinghua University made a $300,000 donation.” The university was dubbed a “Jefferson Founding Partner.”
However, TUHS’s concerning links have been well known. The Pentagon assessed in 2020 there were “Military-Civil Fusion linkages” with Tsinghua University, noting the school’s “People’s Liberation Army-affiliated labs.” A report prepared for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) in 2022 noted the PLA Air Force “established the ‘Dual-Enrollment Program’ with Tsinghua University.”
Also, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute found that Tsinghua University is “jointly supervised” by the “State Administration of Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense.”
“We already knew the Chinese Communist Party infiltrated America’s colleges and universities through ‘Confucius Institute’ programs,” Nicki Neily, president and founder of PDE, told the Washington Examiner. “However, it is frightening to discover the same problem occurring in K-12 schools.”
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.”
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 “honorary chairman” was former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, but 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” and “vice chairman of the Jiangsu Overseas Friendship Association.”
USCC 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.
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.
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Shirble, seemingly just a Chinese department store, had as chairman Yang Xiangbo, a “member” of multiple sessions of the “National Committee” of the United Front’s “Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.” The TJ fund said Shirble donated at least $500,000 in fiscal 2018. A message from Yang Xiangbo on the Shirble website noted CCP officials “visited Shirble Department Store in person to guide the work and put forward ardent expectations for Shirble.”
Other TJ fund donors included Lockheed Martin, Northup Grumman, NASA, and the State Department.
