State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs
Government agency in the People's Republic of China
- 2 min read
- 5 chapters
Related on Lably
Through China
History
SAFEA founded in 1956 and abolished in March 2018, when its functions were absorbed by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) as part of the deepening the reform of the Party and state institutions. The SAFEA name was retained to interact with foreign parties. The name was transferred to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in March 2023 as part of the plan on reforming Party and state institutions.
Sign in to keep reading
4 more chapters are free with a Lably account.
Recruitment
The fields targeted for foreign recruitment included the economy, technology, management, education, engineering, science, culture, and healthcare. Foreigners usually worked in foreign invested joint-ventures, private industry, state-owned enterprises and public construction projects.
Programs and organizations supervised
- Thousand Talents Plan (TTP)
- China International Talent Exchange Foundation (CITEF)
- China Association for International Exchange of Personnel (CAIEP)
- China Services International
- Conference on International Exchange of Professionals
Partnerships
SAFEA has had partnerships with universities and professional bodies in several countries, including:
- University of Maryland, College Park
- University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Project Management Institute
Reaction
According to the 1999 Cox Report, SAFEA's CAIEP is "one of several organizations set up by the PRC for illicit technology transfer through contacts with Western scientists and engineers." In March 2022, a federal jury convicted a man of fraudulently obtaining U.S. visas for CAIEP employees.
A 2019 report by the United States Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations stated that SAFEA's contracts with foreign experts "include provisions that violate U.S. standards of research integrity, place TTP members in compromising legal and ethical positions, and undermine fundamental U.S. scientific norms of transparency, reciprocity, and integrity."
SAFEA has been the subject of espionage investigations. In 2010, Noshir Gowadia was convicted for selling classified information, primarily regarding the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit, to a SAFEA official. SAFEA has been reported to operate nominally private front organizations such as Virginia-based Triway Enterprises.