EXCLUSIVE: Harvard Commencement Speaker Worked For Org Tied To China’s Military

Harvard’s 2025 commencement speaker, “Luanna” Yurong Jiang, worked for a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) entity with extensive ties to Beijing’s military and intelligence networks, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation discovered.

Jiang, who graduated from the Kennedy School on May 29 and appeared to take a swipe at the Trump administration during her speech, was a volunteer for the International Department of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) prior to attending Harvard between at least 2018 and 2022, according to a DCNF translation of Chinese state media. The organization is controlled by the CCP and has signed a cooperative agreement with a Chinese military arm, according to CBCGDF announcements.

Furthermore, CBCGDF also hosts a branch of a Chinese influence and intelligence service called the United Front Work Department (UFWD), to which many of its leaders belong, including its secretary-general who reportedly wrote a recommendation letter for Jiang to Harvard, according to a DCNF translation of Chinese state media.

“Harvard is one of the world’s greatest institutions, but we will have no choice but to end its existence if it continues to allow itself to be used by those seeking the destruction of our country,” Gordon Chang, author and China expert, told the DCNF.

Harvard and CBCGDF did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment. Luanna Jiang could not be reached for comment.

‘The Fate Of Students From Abroad’

“Humanity rises and falls as one,” said Luanna Jiang, the first Chinese woman to deliver Harvard’s commencement speech. “But today, that promise of a connected world is giving way to division, fear and conflict.”

“If we still believe in a shared future let us not forget those who we label as enemies, they too are human,” Jiang continued. “In the end, we do not rise by proving each other wrong, we rise by refusing to let one another go.”

The Harvard Crimson characterized Jiang’s speech as a “full-throated defense of the importance of international diversity as the Trump administration threatens the fate of students from abroad at Harvard.”

Harvard’s suspected ties to the Chinese government have come under intense scrutiny in recent years. In December 2021, Charles Lieber, a former Harvard University chemistry professor, was convicted of crimes related to concealing his participation in a Chinese government technology transfer program from U.S. government agencies funding his research.

The House Select Committee sent a letter to Harvard on May 19 alleging it had “repeatedly hosted and trained members of a CCP paramilitary organization” implementing “the CCP’s genocide against the Uyghurs.” Citing this and other examples, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revoked Harvard’s right to host foreign students on May 22, claiming the university has been facilitating and engaging “in coordinated activity with the CCP.”

However, a federal judge has blocked the ban prohibiting Harvard from enrolling international students.

“If Harvard insists on posing a threat to America, then the Trump administration must find a way to revoke its charter. Other schools can then take over its assets and functions,” Chang said. “A revocation is constitutional in a national emergency, such as the one we are now in.”

‘Proxies For CCP Interests’

Although the website for CBCGDF claims the organization is a “nationwide nonprofit public foundation and a social legal entity dedicated to biodiversity conservation and green development,” a DCNF review of its website and announcements found that CBCGDF is actually controlled by the CCP and Chinese government agencies, and has deep ties to China’s military and intelligence networks.

CBCGDF’s website states the organization was founded in 1985 by Lu Zhengcao, who was a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) general, according to Chinese state media. Lu also served as the deputy chairman of a Chinese influence arm called the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), according to CBCGDF.

CPPCC “delegates attend a high-profile annual meeting to receive direction from the CCP regarding the ways its policies should be characterized” and “serve as proxies for CCP interests,” according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC).

The China Association For Science And Technology (CAST), which is part of the CPPCC, and one of the two “most important” organizations involved in China’s technology transfer efforts, according to the USCC, supervises CBCGDF, its website states.

The CBCGDF organizational diagram likewise reveals the group is under the control of its internal CCP committee, which was established in April 2017, according to CBCGDF. Xie Boyang, CBCGDF’s current chairman, is a counselor committee member to China’s State Council, according to the Chinese government.

The organization also works closely with the UFWD, which is a Chinese influence and intelligence service, according to the USCC.

The 4th chairman of CBCGDF, Hu Deping, previously served as the UFWD’s deputy director before joining the group and held CPPCC and other UFWD roles while leading CBCGDF, a review of the organization’s announcements found. Hu was still active within CBCGDF until at least 2024, CBCGDF announcements show.

A roster of CBCGDF directors from 2018 lists other UFWD personnel, and the group has sent staff to attend UFWD training camps, such as in September 2023, when staff members participated in a “UFWD theoretical research class” to study CCP ideology, according to CBCGDF.

Moreover, CBCGDF also announced in May 2024 that it had established an internal branch of the All-China Federation Of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC), which is a UFWD agency, according to the Department of Justice.

[Image created by DCNF with pics from The Paper, Qingdao Changle No. 2 High School, and China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation]

‘The Call Of Chairman Xi Jinping’

CBCGDF’s secretary-general, Zhou Jinfeng, wrote a recommendation letter for Luanna Jiang to attend Harvard, and has extensive ties to the Chinese government, according to Chinese government and state media reports.

Jiang volunteered with CBCGDF for at least four years, Chinese state media reported, and went with the group to participate in the London High-Level Meeting on Combating Illicit Wildlife Trade in October 2018. During the event, CBCGDF stated it wished to protect pangolins, according to the British government. The nonprofit’s researchers were later sent to study pangolins in Taiwan with the stated goal of promoting the nation’s “reunification with the motherland,” according to a CBCGDF staff member’s report given at a UFWD theoretical research class in 2023.

Zhou’s CBCGDF profile indicates that he has repeatedly served as a CPPCC delegate, and Chinese government sources identify him as having held several leadership positions within UFWD organizations.

Among others, Zhou is listed as the chairman of a U.S. branch of the Western Returned Scholars Association (WRSA), which is a UFWD subordinate, according to USCC. As with the aforementioned CAST that oversees CBCGDF, WRSA is the other “most important” organization involved in China’s technology transfer efforts, according to the commission. Zhou did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

Zhou has also attended at least three events hosted by the Chinese People’s Association For Friendship With Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), which is a UFWD “affiliate,” according to the U.S. State Department. In November 2019, Chinese state media reported Zhou attended one such CPAFFC event in China’s Hebei province with the executive director of CBCGDF’s Green Future Science and Technology Development Special Fund, Jiang Zhiming, who is Luanna Jiang’s father, according to Sing Tao Daily.

Jiang Zhiming donated approximately $140,000 to establish CBCGDF’s special fund in 2015, according to the group. He could not be reached for comment.

Zhou has ties to Harvard and the Chinese military, according to multiple reports.

On May 23, 2018, Zhou met with Harvard Fairbanks Director Michael Szonyi to discuss the promotion of cultural exchanges, education and business between the U.S. and China, according to China Poly Group, which hosted the meeting at its headquarters in Beijing. China Poly Group is a state-owned Chinese defense contractor founded by the Central Military Commission and PLA, according to its archived website. The U.S. government sanctioned China Poly Group’s subsidiary Poly Technologies in 2013, 2022, and 2024, for missile proliferation and other activities.

Zhou and Szonyi did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment. China Poly Group could not be reached for comment.

Chinese media outlet Sohu reported that during the 2018 meeting between Zhou, Szonyi, and China Poly Group’s chairman Xu Niansha, the parties also discussed the promotion of the Belt And Road Initiative, which is a Chinese government “infrastructure development and economic integration strategy” that China uses to gain intelligence and “political, military and economic leverage over participating countries through the accrual and manipulation of debt,” according to the U.S. State Department.

The year before Zhou’s meeting with Szonyi, CBCGDF’s secretary-general attended a January 2017 meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, during which CBCGDF signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation with China Poly Group, Chinese state media reported.

“China Poly Group follows the call of Chairman Xi Jinping, adhering to the aim of ‘protecting the country and benefiting the people,’ in order to build a harmonious China and green development, work together and dedicate ourselves to our responsibilities,” China Poly Group’s chairman, Xu Niansha, said during a speech at the 2017 meeting, according to a DCNF translation.