Table of Contents

Overview

Caught in the Crossfire

Request for Release of DOJ Review Report

Community Town Hall 

Racial Profiling Before and After The China Initiative

Links and References

Overview

On February 23, 2022, the Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the Department of Justice (DOJ), Matthew G. Olsen, announced the end of the “China Initiative,” a program that was meant to address economic espionage but morphed into disproportionately targeting Asian Americans and academic communities for administrative errors and harming academic freedom and open science. While we disagree with Olsen’s self-assessment that the DOJ did not find racial bias in China Initiative cases, we welcome the end of the ill-conceived initiative and DOJ’s openness to listen and respond to community concerns. 

The work to address racial profiling against Asian Americans is far from over; in fact, it is just beginning.  The flawed China Initiative has caused immeasurable damage to victims, and eroded the trust and confidence Asian American and academic communities placed in law enforcement.  We urge transparency and accountability going forward. APA Justice is committed to continuing our work on these important issues.

Moving forward, we urge the DOJ, the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP), and federal funding agencies to engage in dialogue with Asian American and academic community leaders, be responsive to public Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and inquiries, and provide facts and data to support their policies and practices.  We hope this is the beginning of real change to reduce systemic prejudice and bias and focus on legitimate national security threats.  We are encouraged by the progress made by OSTP to develop and implement fair and consistent reporting requirements that will not “diminish our superpower of attracting global scientific talent” and not “fuel xenophobia against Asian Americans.”  More needs to be done for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to be fully engaged with the Asian American and scientific communities.

In addition to transparency, APA Justice strongly believes that the federal government must be held accountable for its misconduct and abuse of power.  Unfortunately, DOJ has not provided remedies for the impacted communities to heal and regain trust in the government, or offered an apology or support to the scientists who were falsely charged  and suffered tremendous damage personally and professionally.  The aggressive prosecutions and investigations by the DOJ and FBI have had devastating effects for families, friends, colleagues, and community members.  Congress and the public must hold our institutions accountable for misconduct and misguided policies.

DOJ must work to rebuild trust with the people it serves, particularly the Asian American and academic communities.  They have been terrorized over the past three plus years under the China Initiative.  We were encouraged that the DOJ acknowledged the chilling effect across academia, and believe that by advancing transparency and accountability, the U.S. government will send a signal that America is indeed the shining beacon of freedom and justice for all.

APA Justice thanks the tremendous support from members of Congress and community partners in civil rights and academia who have worked tirelessly to support the victims and advocate for changes to the China Initiative. 

APA Justice is committed to fostering the ecosystem to effectively address racial profiling concerns and advocate for justice and fairness for the Asian Pacific American communities. 

Caught in the Crossfire

On March 30, 2022, WHYNOT | 歪脑 produced a video titled Caught in the Crossfire for the third and final episode of its "Caught in the Crossfire" series.  It followed the case of MIT professor Gang Chen, one of the most prominent scholars being charged under the China Initiative, to show how the program had subjected scientists to loyalty tests.

During the China Initiative’s lifespan of three plus years, the focus gradually shifted to academia, targeting a number of researchers and professors with grant fraud charges. Among those who were charged under the initiative, nearly 90% were of Chinese heritage, and many of the cases involving research integrity have been dropped after lengthy and costly legal battles. Concerns about racial profiling were repeatedly refuted by the FBI and the DOJ even as the China Initiative came to an end. 

The video has three chapters:

1. "We Are All Gang Chen" 我们都是陈刚

2. The "China Initiative" "中国行动计划"的前生今世

3. A Scientist's Loyalty 科学家为谁而忠诚

2022/03/30 WHYNOT: How the DOJ's China Initiative subjected scientists to loyalty tests (video 16:39)

2022/03/30 歪脑: 大国夹缝中：“中国行动计划”下科学家面临的忠诚拷问 (video 16:39)

Request for Release of DOJ Review Report

On March 8, 2022, APA Justice sent a letter to Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen, requesting the release of a report on the Department of Justice's (DOJ’s) review of the “China Initiative.” 

Release of a report on the findings of the review is critically important to ease the broad concerns that the end of “China Initiative” is just in name but does not reflect a change in fact and substance.  It is common for the government to produce a written report to memorialize an important review and usually includes the defined scope, issues examined, process and methodology used, findings, recommended changes, decisions, and plans for implementation. 

Community Town Hall 

On March 17, 2022, a virtual town hall meeting was held for community members to ask a panel of experts questions about the recent announcement from the Department of Justice to end the China Initiative.

The meeting was convened by a coalition led by Advancing Justice | AAJC.  It was not recorded.

APA Justice issued the following statement for the town hall meeting:

“Thank you, Advancing Justice | AAJC, for organizing this town hall. 

“The APA Justice Task Force fully supports the end of the ‘China Initiative.’  We appreciate the Department of Justice’s openness and willingness to engage, listen, and respond to community concerns. 

“Ending the “China Initiative” is a promising start to correct the harms caused by the initiative, apply lessons learned, and rebuild community trust and confidence that were lost in our law enforcement and judicial system. 

“But we emphasize that this is just a start.

“We, like many other organizations and individuals, have broad concerns that the end of the initiative is just in name but does not reflect a change in fact and substance. 

“On March 8, we wrote to Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen and requested the public release of a report memorializing the findings of his review.   We raised five basic questions, including the scope of his review, the new role for the National Security Division, the re-start of implicit bias training, the thoroughness of the thousands of existing prosecutions and investigations, and whether the review covered allegations of DOJ and FBI misconduct. 

“Mr. Olsen’s response will go a long way to help us move forward.  We will stay vigilant and continue to stand up and speak out.  Our mission is not complete. 

“We need our government and our university administrations to be transparent, accountable, and operate with fairness and integrity.

“APA Justice will focus on three main areas moving forward.

1. “We call for Congress to exercise its oversight role to hold law enforcement and federal agencies accountable.  We thank the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) for its continuing leadership.  

2. “We fully support the initiative started by the Office of Science and Technology Policy to ensure that the new policies related to research security will not fuel xenophobia or prejudice.

3. “We will urge university administrations to inform, assist, and protect their faculty members.  Apply fair and due process.  Do not cave and do not throw your faculty members under the bus.   

“The 1,210 days of the ‘China Initiative’ have been extremely damaging to individuals and their families, as well as the Asian American and scientific communities. 

“We sincerely hope that the end of the ‘China Initiative’ will bring real change, start the healing process, and rebuild the lost trust.  We look forward to work with many of you in this important journey.  Thank you.”

Racial Profiling Before and After The China Initiative

The China Initiative was not the first, nor will it be the last, racial profiling faced by the Asian Pacific American communities in the history of the United States.

We are not a perfect nation.  Although some progress is made, we must never cease to pursue the ideals and principles of the United States through continuous awareness, education, civic engagement, and holding the government accountable.

Visit our Racial Profiling page to learn more about some of the recent history before the China Initiative was launched and the continuing developments and attempts to revive the China Initiative since its end in February 2022.

Jump to:

Overview

Caught in the Crossfire

Request for Release of DOJ Review Report

Community Town Hall 

Racial Profiling Before and After The China Initiative