The century-old, Princeton-based Westminster Choir College, a well-respected music school, may soon be sold to a Chinese government-owned company named “Beijing Kaiwen Education Technology,” a former a steel company with no track record of music education.
New Jersey State Assemblymen Hal Wirths and Parker Space introduced a resolution, ACR 222, which calls upon the state legislature to oppose the sale because it “could jeopardize the security of United States citizens.”
With the multitude of world-class scientists, researchers, and institutions located in Princeton, the law makers are concerned that the Chinese government may be using the guise of academia to infiltrate the choir college for nefarious purposes, including the collection of United States intelligence and intellectual property theft.
“The question is, do we want a hostile communist dictatorship gaining footholds in strategic academic and scientific areas of our country?” asked Wirths. “Absolutely not!”
On June 21, 2018, the Rider University Board of Trustees announced that it had signed a US$40 million purchase and sale agreement for the transfer of the choir college to Kaiwen Education.
Source: Oriental Daily News (online), March 5, 2019
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