Head of leading Chinese defence university sanctioned by US promoted to vice-minister for industry
- Shan Zhongde was previously head of the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which has close links to the Chinese military
- Donald Trump banned students from the university from receiving US visas, citing the risk of spying and the theft of intellectual property
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Trump said the measure was designed to stop spying and the illegal collection of American intellectual property – accusations China denied.
Later in the year, the university was also included on a entities list that identified institutions that posed a threat to US national security.
The Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, was classified as high-risk by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in its China Defence Universities Tracker. The think tank said this was because of “its involvement in economic espionage and very high level of defence research” and role in top secret projects.
Shan was appointed as university president shortly after Trump signed the proclamation and was promoted to become its Communist Party chief in 2023.
His appointment as vice-minister comes at a time of intense competition between the US and China over technology.
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Shan earned a doctoral degree in mechanical engineering from Tsinghua University in 2002 and later joined the China Academy of Machinery Science and Technology, a state-owned organisation specialising in research relating to equipment manufacturing.
He was made deputy head of the academy in 2014 and became the deputy general manager in 2018 of its group enterprise which oversees a dozen research institutions.
Shan has supervised more than 60 graduate students and been granted more than 30 international patents in countries including the US, Japan, Germany and Russia, according to his university’s website.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, responsible for promoting China’s technological development and innovation, plays a key role in Beijing’s drive to become self-reliant in technology and reduce its vulnerability to US restrictions.
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Other senior figures in the ministry also come from specialist backgrounds relating to China’s core interests.
The ministry is led by Jin Zhuanglong, an aerospace expert who specialised in winged missile design, while its first vice-minister Zhang Kejian previously headed the China Academy of Engineering Physics, a defence institution responsible for technology such as atomic energy and lasers.
