A new report says University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers participated in a joint institute with China’s Southeast University that contributed to connected-vehicle research later associated with Chinese technical standards developed alongside a public security agency.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison collaborated with a Chinese university tied to China’s military and defense sector on connected-vehicle research that later contributed to work surrounding Beijing’s vehicle technology standards, according to a new Strategy Risks report.
The report, obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, examines a research partnership established between UW-Madison and Southeast University, or SEU, in Nanjing, China. It says researchers connected with the partnership contributed to Chinese connected-vehicle research at a time when Beijing was developing technologies capable of collecting and transmitting extensive information about vehicles, traffic patterns and drivers.
The findings come as Washington has moved to restrict Chinese technology from the U.S. connected-vehicle market over national security and data concerns. A Senate committee in July advanced legislation aimed at further limiting Chinese-linked vehicle technology and automakers.
UW-Madison and Southeast University formally signed an agreement in October 2017 establishing the Joint Research Institute, known as the JRI. Senior engineering officials from the Wisconsin university traveled to Nanjing for the institute’s unveiling that December, according to the report.
The partnership subsequently appeared in research involving connected and intelligent vehicles. Strategy Risks found that five UW-Madison researchers were among 46 contributors credited on a 2019 Chinese report addressing connected-car technology. The JRI was listed first among the participating institutions, while an institute operated by China’s Ministry of Public Security, the country’s national police authority, appeared seventh.
Southeast University later participated in developing China’s 2023 connected-vehicle standards alongside a traffic safety research center affiliated with the Ministry of Public Security, according to the report.
That connection is significant because connected vehicles can exchange information with roads, infrastructure, other vehicles and centralized networks. Such systems can improve navigation and traffic management but can also generate detailed information about a vehicle’s location, movement and occupants, making cybersecurity and data access central concerns for U.S. policymakers.
The report also details Southeast University’s relationships with China’s national defense establishment. SEU is jointly overseen by China’s Ministry of Education and an agency responsible for the country’s defense technology and industrial sector. The university operates two laboratories designated for national defense work and possesses security credentials allowing it to conduct classified research, according to Strategy Risks.
In 2020, Southeast University and a People’s Liberation Army unit opened a National Defense Education Base on the university’s campus. The facility supports military recruitment, national defense education and mobilization activities.
The U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party separately identified Southeast University in September 2025 as an institution with direct connections to the People’s Liberation Army and China’s defense industrial base.
Neither UW-Madison nor Southeast University immediately responded to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Strategy Risks did not accuse UW-Madison or its researchers of espionage, intellectual property theft or violating U.S. export restrictions. The report explicitly “identifies no evidence of espionage or intellectual property theft,” and it does not allege that the university violated federal rules restricting Chinese connected-vehicle technology.
The nature and operation of the Joint Research Institute are also disputed.
An attorney representing a UW-Madison professor challenged portions of the report, arguing that the university did not fund or operate the institute. Strategy Risks said the disagreement remains unresolved, pointing to a Southeast University faculty profile that continued to identify a professor as holding a JRI leadership position as recently as 2024.
Federal concerns surrounding Chinese connected-vehicle systems have intensified independently of the Wisconsin partnership.
In January 2025, the U.S. Commerce Department finalized restrictions targeting certain vehicle connectivity systems and automated driving technologies linked to China and Russia. Federal officials said the measures were intended to prevent foreign adversaries from gaining access to sensitive information generated by increasingly computerized vehicles.
“This is a targeted approach to ensure we keep PRC and Russian-manufactured technologies off American roads and protect our nation’s connected vehicle supply chains,” then-Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said when the rule was announced in January 2025.
The Commerce Department’s action reflected mounting concern that modern vehicles effectively function as mobile computer networks. Cameras, microphones, GPS systems, cellular connections and other sensors can produce large quantities of information, while internet-connected systems may permit data to flow between vehicles, manufacturers and remote servers.
The Strategy Risks report also raises questions about another UW-Madison collaboration in China involving federally funded scientific research.
The National Science Foundation awarded nearly $900,000 to UW-Madison for participation in the Tianlai radio telescope project in China’s Xinjiang region between 2016 and 2022, according to the report.
Tianlai is an astronomical research project designed to study radio signals from space, but Strategy Risks said its broader research network included China Electronics Technology Group Corp.’s 54th Research Institute, commonly known as CETC 54.
CETC 54 is part of China’s state-owned defense electronics sector and has been placed on the Commerce Department’s Entity List. Federal restrictions involving the institute date back years, with the Commerce Department documenting its status through an Entity List action.
The UW-Madison partnerships detailed in the report are emerging amid broader scrutiny in Washington of academic relationships between American universities and Chinese institutions connected to the PLA, defense research and government security agencies.
That scrutiny has increasingly focused not only on whether U.S. universities transfer protected technology, but also on whether ostensibly civilian research can contribute to China’s military, surveillance or public-security capabilities.
In UW-Madison’s case, Strategy Risks argues that the connected-vehicle partnership illustrates the difficulty of separating academic engineering research from technologies that can later be incorporated into government standards and security infrastructure. The report stops short of alleging unlawful conduct by the university, but says the collaboration warrants closer examination as the United States moves to limit Chinese access to sensitive connected-vehicle technology.
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