Sunday Read: Chinese Americans warn of racial profiling in probes of scientists

Chinese Americans are increasingly being caught up in the crackdown on Chinese scientists, researchers and students  accused of spying and theft of U.S intellectual properties. The anti-Chinese policies of the Trump administration are  raising the specter of racial profiling, say two groups of Chinese Americans.

"Last week's news reports on what is likely the first wave of a crack down targeting primarily Chinese American scientists at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston are unsettling, because of the manner in which the investigations were carried out, and the fear they have generated," said the United Chinese Americans in an April 25 statement. 

"No scientist has been charged with a federal crime. Yet, reportedly, at least 10 scientists have retired, resigned, been fired or placed on administrative leave, with more parties affected. Fifty-five other NIH-funded institutions are currently carrying out similar investigations in response to U.S. government concerns."

The UCA statement reiterates the concerns of a strongly worded letter published in Science today (March 21), a group of Chinese-American scientists voice concern that recent proposals from the National Institutes of Health and FBI actions could lead to unjust targeting of ethnically Chinese scientists.

“The letter on behalf of Chinese scientists raises valid and important issues that have major implications, not only for the Chinese scientists directly affected, but also for the US’s standing as a global leader of scientific knowledge production and the US universities where they work,” said Jenny Lee, an educational policy and practice researcher at the University of Arizona who did not contribute to the letter, writes in an email to The Scientist.

The scientists' letter, signed by members of the Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America (SCBA), the Chinese American Hematologist and Oncologist Network (CAHON), and the Chinese Biological Investigators Society (CBIS), points to recent comments by FBI director Christopher Wray and an NIH report, which “single out students and scholars of Chinese descent working in the United States as threats to U.S. national interests.”

UCA blames the governments apparent crackdown on the growing deterioration in U.S.-China relations of recent years. It has endangered academic freedom in American universities and research institutions as well as scientific exchanges between the two countries. 

"At the same time, tighter scrutiny and growing distrust of Chinese Americans have had a profoundly adverse effect on this community, who historically has suffered profoundly from the notorious Chinese Exclusion Act and Red Scare. Once again, Chinese American scientists are caught in the crossfire between the two global powers, becoming collateral damage as a result of the charged atmosphere," continued the UCA statement.

The vast majority of Chinese American scientists are law-abiding. Some who have been prosecuted with espionage related charges have turned out to be totally innocent. But to this day, their reputations, careers and lives remain in tatters. 

In many other cases, people have had multiple felony charges leveled against them but at the end, have been convicted of much lesser offenses, e.g., mishandling of data. 

Since 1996, altogether fewer than 200 defendants—about 31% or 58 of them ethnic Chinese or Chinese Americans — have been charged, not all convicted, for trade secret theft, under the Economic Espionage Act, claims UCA. Of those cases of conviction, most of the guilty parties were motivated by personal financial gains, not economic espionage carried out in collaboration with a foreign power or with the intent to benefit a foreign government, says UCA.

In their statement, UCA recommends

• Chinese Americans scientists and scholars to continue to advocate for strong U.S.-China exchange programs and increased sensitivity training for law enforcement agencies; 
• The Chinese government "earnestly" protect U.S. intellectual property rights;
• U.S. law enforcement agencies strengthen internal training and safeguards "to reduce implicit bias and discrimination, to enhance communication with Chinese American communities and to ensure that the freedom and civil rights of all Chinese Americans are rigorously protected."
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Trump says Chinese foreign students are all spies

SCREEN CAPTURE

Chinese students graduate from Columbia University.

IN HIS CONTINUING war against people of color, Donald Trump lashed out at Chinese students in the the U.S. by calling them spies.

During a dinner with 15 CEOs and senior White House staff, talking about an unnamed country that was clearly China according to a source in attendance, Trump said “almost every student that comes over to this country is a spy.”

"Chinese students bring value to American campuses through the diversity of their experiences and perspectives," responded the United Chinese Americans in a statement. "They also contribute an estimated $12 billion annually directly to U.S. institutions of higher learning. And they provide much-needed talent on which American high-tech industries and its research and academic institutions have come to rely."

The UCA is a nationwide nonprofit and nonpartisan federation and a community civic movement dedicated to enriching and empowering Chinese American communities.

"Recent reported remarks by President Trump, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Senator Marco Rubio, who has characterized persons of Chinese origin in the United States as a national security threat, are unjustified and deeply offensive," the UCA statement continued. "The United Chinese Americans calls on the White House to clarify the President's reported disparagement of Chinese students."

The closed-door dinner with the CEOs was held at Trump's private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey where he has been spending a 10-day "working" vacation.

The comment came during a discussion during in which Trump expressed frustration against the Chinese which retaliate against the U.S. after Trump imposed tariffs on goods from China. That retaliatory action has angered and surprised Trump, according to Politico.

Although Trump is said to be planning further tarrifs, the Chinese government said it won’t back down when it comes to a trade war started by the U.S.

There are more than 350,000 Chinese students studying at U.S. universities -- the largest group of international students by far -- and Chinese students earned about 10 percent of all doctorates awarded by American universities in 2016.

Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said in a statement she was "outraged" that the president would "paint an entire ethnic group as spies."

"National security concerns must be taken seriously, but with his words, the president slanders whole groups of people, potentially causing harm to those who've done no wrong," Chu said in a written statement provided to Inside Higher Ed. "His careless words feed into stereotypes that endanger Chinese and Asian American students. 

"Our own economic future could be at risk as these actions discourage these students from entering STEM fields for fear they’ll be targeted for the crime of studying while Asian," Chu's statement continued. 

"We’ve seen where this kind of prejudice can lead, including the cases of Chinese American scientists Sherry Chen and Professor Xioxing Xi, whose lives were upended when they were wrongfully accused of being spies for China. Instead of slurring entire ethnic groups, the president should focus on actual solutions that make the whole country better off.”

"Generations of foreign policy leaders agree that international students and scholars are one of America’s greatest foreign policy assets," Jill Welch, deputy executive director for public policy of the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers, said in a statement about what the president reportedly said. 

"Blanket generalizations about students from any country will undoubtedly make international students think twice before choosing the United States as their destination. If students, particularly from strategic regions around the world, no longer come here, America will lose the ability to build relationships with future leaders abroad and strengthen our own national security."

 "To make America more secure and welcoming to international students and scholars the president must avoid unwelcoming rhetoric and policies," said Welch. "We are already in a global competition for talent, and students around the world pay close attention to the policies and rhetoric emanating from the White House. In order to avoid a further chilling effect in the United States, it is incumbent upon policy leaders to act boldly and decisively to let students know that they are welcome here and that we value their contributions."

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