Watchdog report says Missouri State trained Chinese defense-linked executives

A new watchdog report says Missouri State University ran an MBA and Executive MBA program that educated more than 1,500 Chinese executives, officials, and stateowned enterprise managers over two decades, including people connected to China’s defense sector. The report, compiled by Strategy Risks, alleges that some graduates were linked to Aviation Industry Corporation of China, a major aerospace and defense conglomerate that the U.S. Defense Department has identified as a Chinese military company. It also says the program may have received public support, though the report says that funding could not be independently verified. Missouri State University said it was aware of the report and denied that taxpayer money funded the program. The university also said the students took a standard business curriculum and that it found no evidence of espionage, intellectual property theft, misconduct, or visa violations. The report argues the case highlights a gap in U.S. oversight of university ties to China.