Table of Contents

Overview

“Security Initiative’s aim is questioned”

“Why Trump’s anti-spy ‘China Initiative’ is unraveling”

“Has the ‘China Initiative’ Run Its Course?”

“Is China Initiative Out of Control?”

“How A Chinese-Spy Hunt At DOJ Went Too Far”

Links and References

Overview

Over a two-day period in July 2021, five similar prosecutions against Chinese researchers were summarily dropped without explanation by the Department of Justice (DOJ).  They were suspected to belong to the Chinese military and might be stealing American industrial secrets under the China Initiative, but were not charged for espionage. 

A week earlier, DOJ dismissed charges, also without explanation, against Qing Wang, a Chinese American researcher in Cleveland, who was accused under the China Initiative of failing to disclose his affiliation with a Chinese university from which he had received funding.

Less than two months later in September, a federal judge acquitted Anming Hu, a Chinese Canadian engineering professor in Tennessee, of charges stemming from allegations under the China Initiative that he hid his joint academic appointment in China in obtaining research funding from NASA.

Having a mistrial and six cases dismissed within several weeks “is extraordinary,” a former federal prosecutor said. “It really undermines the credibility of the [China] initiative.”

These high-profile cases raise the question of whether the China Initiative designed to address a national security threat posed by the Chinese government has strayed, targeting researchers on lesser allegations of fraud without compelling evidence that they pose a danger to the United States.

“Security Initiative’s aim is questioned”

On September 15, 2021, the Washington Post published on its front page As cases fail, security initiative's aim is questioned.  

To federal investigators, Qing Wang was an example of China’s growing effort to co-opt scientists in the United States — part of a vast campaign to steal American secrets and technology. 

But a string of dismissed cases including Wang's has amplified concerns among some lawmakers and activists about whether prosecutors have been overzealous in pursuing researchers of Chinese descent.  

The issue goes beyond whether the government is bringing prosecutions it can win. Critics say the cases raise the question of whether a program designed to address a national security threat posed by the Chinese government has strayed, targeting researchers on lesser allegations of fraud without compelling evidence that they pose a danger to the United States.

In many of the cases, the Justice Department is “using language akin to spycraft, but that’s not substantiated by the charges they are bringing,” said George P. Varghese, a former federal prosecutor in Boston.

For the 20 or so academics prosecuted in the past three years and linked to the China Initiative, most charges related to lack of candor — making false statements or failing to disclose ties to Chinese institutions — rather than intent to spy. All but a few of the researchers are of Chinese descent.

John Hemann, a former federal prosecutor in San Francisco, worked the flagship China Initiative case: the 2018 indictment of Chinese state-owned Fujian Jinhua. He said the department was successfully prosecuting China-related economic espionage cases long before the China Initiative.

But pressure to demonstrate the initiative’s success — to “show statistics,” he said, “has caused a program focused on the Chinese government to morph into a people-of-Chinese-descent initiative,’’ including Chinese-born scientists working in the United States.

“Why Trump’s anti-spy ‘China Initiative’ is unraveling”

On September 16, 2021, LA Times published Why Trump’s anti-spy ‘China Initiative’ is unraveling.  The article covered recently dropped "China Initiative" cases including visiting UCLA researcher Lei Guan and University of Tennessee Professor Anming Hu.  

Michael German, a former FBI agent who serves as a fellow for the Brennan Center for Justice, said the recent dismissals revealed how weak many of the cases were.  “Obviously, the FBI and Justice Department are under pressure to produce indictments against people with a so-called ‘nexus to China’ to match the political rhetoric sensationalizing the espionage threat from the Chinese government,” he said. “Even FBI analysts appear to have felt the investigators’ effort to connect these defendants to the Chinese military was overwrought.”

Although much remains unknown about the Trump-era campaign, it appears that a major problem was its decision to focus on Chinese nationals and Chinese Americans working in major U.S. research universities.

Not only did that approach fail to turn up persuasive evidence of spying, but the emphasis on going after a small number of individuals for academic fraud seemed too small-scale to make a dent in a purportedly massive problem.

Moreover, the FBI’s tactics struck many Asian Americans as heavy-handed and discriminatory. The campaign came at a time when Asian Americans across the country were under attack with hate crimes.

Defending the program, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray warned that Beijing, in its effort to overtake the U.S. economy, had resorted to industrial espionage using “non-traditional collectors” such as researchers and graduate students.

He told a China Initiative conference in 2020 that the FBI had about 1,000 investigations involving China’s attempt to steal U.S.-based technology. In April 2021, the director testified before Congress that the bureau had about 2,000 open cases of economic espionage that “tie back to the Chinese government,” representing a 1,300% increase over the last few years.

But in the nearly three years since the program’s launch, the China Initiative has brought just 12 prosecutions of people at academic institutions and has won convictions of four individuals.

In none of those four cases did the government provide evidence of economic espionage or theft of trade secrets or intellectual property.

“Has the ‘China Initiative’ Run Its Course?”

On September 17, 2021, the Editor-in-Chief of The Diplomat published Has the ‘China Initiative’ Run Its Course?  The comprehensive article raised the question: After a resounding legal defeat, will the Justice Department change stance on the controversial program?  The initiative potentially covers a lot of ground, making it hard at times to know what officially counts as part of the "China Initiative." “No one has been able to explain to me how a case gets labeled a China Initiative case,” [Seton Hall University Law Professor Margaret] Lewis said. “…By nature, it’s a bit of an amorphous creature.”

“Is China Initiative Out of Control?”

On September 25, 2021, the University World News published Professor acquittal - Is China Initiative out of control?  Dr. Anming Hu, a University of Tennessee, Knoxville professor, faced federal charges related to his alleged connection to Beijing University of Technology while receiving funding from NASA. He was the first to go to trial under the China Initiative, which aims to prevent economic espionage and technology theft. However, Judge Thomas A Varlan dismissed all charges, criticizing the FBI's weak case. Despite this, Hu faced a lengthy legal ordeal, beginning with an indictment in 2020.

The FBI's investigation relied on questionable evidence, including Google Translate translations and a lack of understanding of NASA grant procedures. The prosecution's case crumbled under scrutiny, revealing flaws in the FBI's methods and biases against individuals of Chinese descent. Jurors expressed disbelief in the case's merit, leading to a mistrial.

The China Initiative, criticized for targeting individuals based on ethnicity, has faced calls for its end. Concerns about racial profiling and the initiative's effectiveness have prompted scrutiny from scholars, former prosecutors, and lawmakers. Despite the dismissal of charges, Hu's ordeal underscores the need for reform in how such cases are handled and the impact of biased policies on individuals and communities.

“How A Chinese-Spy Hunt At DOJ Went Too Far”

On September 28, 2021, Law360 published “Overheated”: How a Chinese-Spy Hunt at DOJ Went Too Far.  

In July 2020, Dr. Chen Song and four other visiting Chinese scientists were arrested under the China Initiative and accused of concealing their military affiliations while applying for visas in the U.S. Their cases were dropped in July 2021.

Documents unearthed in the cases show politics and pressure from the top propelling bad cases forward, overwhelming skeptics within the government. Two of the visa defendants spent more than a year in jail, even though their cases were ultimately abandoned. Another was locked up nine months, with his fiancée jailed for two months as a possible witness.  Song was one of the lucky ones, spending only four days in jail.

According to a Law360 analysis, nearly two dozen academics have been indicted under the China Initiative, including U.S. citizens and longtime residents, and the overwhelming majority have been charged for errors on government paperwork or alleged false statements to investigators. More cases have ended in dismissals than convictions, and many defendants have accused investigators of misconduct.

The initiative has led to a significant exodus of Chinese researchers from the U.S., with concerns about persecution driving many to leave. Critics also point out that the focus on Chinese economic espionage overlooks other national security threats, leading to calls for reforms and an internal DOJ investigation into the initiative.

Jump to:

Overview

“Security Initiative’s aim is questioned”

“Why Trump’s anti-spy ‘China Initiative’ is unraveling”

“Has the ‘China Initiative’ Run Its Course?”

“Is China Initiative Out of Control?”

“How A Chinese-Spy Hunt At DOJ Went Too Far”