China Initiative: US drops charges against a Chinese American MIT professor

MIT

Charges against MIT professor Gang Chen have been dropped.

In a sign that the controversial China Initiative may be on its last legs, US prosecutors dropped charges against Gang Chen, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who has been accused of hiding his ties to China in federal research grant applications.

The indictment against Chen, a Chinese-born mechanical engineer and expert in nanotechnology, is one of several that have been brought under the  China Initiative, which was launched during the Trump administration but, according its critics, has resulted in racial profiling of Chinese and Chinese American academics and researchers.

AAPI community groups, political leaders, scientists and researchers have called for the end of the program.

“The China Initiative has had chilling effects on U.S. academic research and unjustly targeted Chinese American researchers through racial profiling,” said Zhengyu Huang, President of Committee of 100. “The China Initiative has ruined the lives of innocent Americans and hurts America’s ability to lead in scientific research and innovation. Even when cases are dismissed, many Chinese and Asian Americans have their lives, careers, and health greatly affected."

Many of the cases against Chinese researchers working for US companies or teaching at college campuses involve errors made in the convoluted process in applying for federal grant applications.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released guidance Jan. 14 to all federal agencies on updating the federal grant application process to create a uniform grant application across the federal government.

These grant applications frequently require disclosures about ties to foreign governments, but the lack of uniformity and clarity of procedures for completing these applications has resulted in researchers inadvertently making errors.

Chen had pleaded not guilty to the allegations, while MIT indicated that the funding in question -- $25 million -- was for the university, rather than for Chen personally.

“The China Initiative, launched by the Trump administration, is supposed to help stop espionage, but instead it has simply been an exercise in racial profiling, with just one conviction from over 150 defendants and at least 77 cases.," said Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA. "In fact, instead of finding evidence of espionage, most of the investigations under the China Initiative have been based on discrepancies in grant applications."

The threat of espionage is a real one that the government must remain vigilant against. But because the China Initiative prioritizes indictments of people with Chinese ancestry, what are often just paperwork mistakes are instead being used to ruin careers and lives.

Members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) met with Department of Justice’s Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen Wednesday, to express CAPAC’s concerns about the China Initiative, which is under review by the Department. 

“CAPAC has long been calling for an end to the China Initiative, a Department of Justice program that began in the previous Administration, said Chu, CAPAC chair. "In the meeting, CAPAC members expressed their views that this initiative has fallen far short of its stated goal of addressing economic espionage, and has instead resulted in numerous false accusations against Chinese researchers and scientists based on their ethnicity."

Committee of 100 president Huang stated: "We support and sympathies go to Professor Chen and his family as they work to rebuild their lives. Committee of 100 supports the protection of our national security, but not at the expense of our cherished civil liberties. For too long, Chinese Americans and the AAPI community have been seen as the perpetual foreigner – strangers in our own homeland. Today, we are all Gang Chen and stand united.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a developing story. Check back later for any updates. For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd.