Joe Rogan warns China is infiltrating US universities to ‘siphon data and information’ – and even when students get caught nothing happens

Joe Rogan has warned that China is infiltrating universities in the US to “siphon data and information” using students studying abroad.

The podcaster talked about the double standards in viewing America and China with former CIA officer Mike Baker on the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience released Wednesday.

He claimed that the country could influence universities in the US by sending hundreds of thousands of students here to study.

Rogan, 56, said they collect information and sometimes get caught, but nothing is done about it.

US intelligence officers have long warned that the country is at risk of Chinese spying and stealing secrets.

“China has so much influence on America, it’s crazy how different the playing field is between what we’re allowed to do,” Rogan said.

“For example, Americans can’t own businesses in China, they can’t own land in China, they can’t buy real estate — but China can do all those things here.

“They can influence our universities, they bring their students here, their students steal data and information and often get caught, it’s a bit crazy.”

In the 2021-2022 academic year, nearly 300,000 Chinese students studied at American universities.

Current and former US intelligence officers, lawmakers and pundits have warned that Beijing is relying on its scientists, corporations and students to infiltrate and gather information.

Former CIA director Gina Haspel warned in 2019 that China intends to “reduce US influence to further its own goals.”

The intelligence community’s World Wide Threat Assessment released in 2021 stated, “We assess that China’s intelligence community will exploit the openness of American society, particularly academia and the scientific community, through a variety of means.”

For more than 10 years, there has been concern about US universities as soft targets for foreign intelligence agencies using students and staff to access emerging technologies.

Instead of using trained spies, Chinese intelligence agencies allegedly used students to act as “entry agents” or “secret influencers,” Joe Augustyn, a former CIA officer, revealed.

In October 2021, the Ministry of Justice charged four Chinese nationals with conspiracy.

It alleged that they were working to recruit college professors, federal law enforcement officers and national security officials to work as agents for the Chinese government.

A 29-year-old math student at UCLA was arrested in 2020 on suspicion of trying to hide his ties to the Chinese government.

He was suspected of handing over sensitive software to the Chinese military.

In 2018, the National Institute of Health warned educational institutions about the threat of undercover espionage.

“There are threats to the integrity of American biomedical research. NIH is aware that some foreign entities have established systematic programs to influence new investigators and peer reviewers,” it wrote.

“This kind of undue influence is not limited to biomedical research; it has been an important subject for defense and energy research for some time now.’

One of the U.S. Navy sailors charged with spying for the Chinese did so because his mother urged him to get a good job, prosecutors have alleged.

Jinchao Wei, 22, was reportedly told that passing on secrets to Beijing about US military strategy and technology would help him get a job with the Chinese Communist Party when he left the Navy.

Chinese-born Wei was serving on the USS Essex in San Diego when he and Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, were arrested on Aug. 2 under the Espionage Act.

The pair allegedly made up to $15,000 each by passing dozens of photos and technical manuals to Chinese intelligence over more than a year.

Assistant US attorney Fred Sheppard told a hearing that Wei’s mother encouraged him to betray the US when he went to Wisconsin for Christmas.

Chinese spies are a problem in the UK with claims China sent a spy to infiltrate a House of Commons briefing by dissidents in Hong Kong.

A man claiming to be a tourist tried to break into the private venue on the top floor of the highly-secured Palace of Westminster in July.

He attempted to enter a rally addressed by Finn Lau and Christopher Mung to an audience of about 50 journalists, colleagues and MPs. He left after a brief confrontation.

Mr Lau and Mr Mung are among three exiled Hong Kong activists to receive £100,000 arrest warrants from the city’s Beijing-controlled police.

Pro-democracy campaigners accused the gate-crasher of being a Chinese Communist Party informant who sought to film, stalk and harass attendees at the event.

It was investigated by parliamentary bosses and the issue of Chinese spies was debated in the House of Commons.

At least 50 Chinese students left the UK between 2020 and 2022 after Britain tightened its procedures to prevent sensitive academic research from being stolen.

The head of Britain’s spy agency MI5 said it had “more than doubled down” on its efforts against Chinese activities as part of a joint alert with the FBI.

He added that the “most groundbreaking challenge” came from an “increasingly authoritarian Chinese communist party” that set its sights on secrets and intellectual property across the West.