Amid the Donald Trump administration increasing its criticism of Harvard University, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 1st (local time) that Harvard is referred to as "party school" (黨校·training institution for party officials) by members of the Chinese Communist Party.
The WSJ particularly noted that Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government is referred to as the overseas "party school" of the Chinese Communist Party and introduced the close relationship between the university and Chinese authorities. Harvard began accepting Chinese students in the 1980s, and a program initiated in 1998 has provided scholarships and administrative training to about 20 senior Chinese officials annually.
According to the newspaper, China has been conducting large-scale overseas training programs for mid-level officials since 1990 to learn about public policy ideas and implementation status in the West, with the programs being offered at prestigious universities in the United States, Singapore, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Among these, the Kennedy School at Harvard was the most preferred destination for Chinese elite figures.
In 2014, the Shanghai Observer, the party organ of the Shanghai city government, evaluated that "if we ranked the overseas party schools of the Chinese Communist Party, the top would be the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in the United States." Liu He, who was an advisor to Xi Jinping during trade negotiations with the U.S. in Trump's first term, and former Vice President Li Yuanchao are graduates of the Kennedy School.
Many children of senior Chinese officials have also received education at Harvard. Xi Jinping's daughter, Xi Mingze (習明澤), enrolled in Harvard College in the early 2010s under a pseudonym. At the time of her admission, Xi Jinping was the Vice President, but by the time she graduated from Harvard, he had become the President. Alvin Zhang, the grandson of former President Jiang Zemin, and Bo Guagua, the son of former Politburo Commissioner Bo Xilai, are also Harvard alumni.
The WSJ reported that renowned professors at Harvard develop deep ties with the Chinese government through interactions with "students" who are to become the future leaders of the Communist Party. An example cited is former dean of the Kennedy School and political scientist Graham Allison's meeting last year with President Xi Jinping and Wang Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs.