PLEASE NOTE: The number of persons impacted by the "China Initiative" and beyond is getting so long that we can no longer list the individual web pages in the menu. A web page has been created separately. Please visit List of Persons or see the Growing List of Impacted Persons below to locate the individual cases.
Background
A pattern of racial profiling against Chinese American scientists began to emerge in 2015.
In a relatively short time span, four naturalized American citizens in three separate situations were indicted for one of most serious crimes related to espionage and trade secrets that carried heavy penalties in prison terms and fines. These individuals worked in diverse fields - private industry, federal government, and academia respectively. All three cases were subsequently dismissed or dropped without apology or further explanation. This is highly unusual because the Department of Justice (DOJ) prides itself on its mission of prosecuting criminal cases. Conviction rate is a key measure of success and performance. Annual statistical reports show that the overall DOJ conviction rate in all criminal prosecutions has been over 90% every year since 2001. The rate for espionage-related charges is expected to be much higher than average due to its serious nature and impact on the accused. A combination of human mistakes, implicit bias, social stigmatism, explicit prejudice, and racial profiling may explain why some of these innocent individuals were wrongly prosecuted in the first place. However, the damages done to them and their families are undeniably devastating. The legal cost to defend oneself is high, easily run into hundreds of thousands of dollars and higher. Reputations and careers built on many years of accomplishments would be forever lost or stalled in an instant, deeming them to become unemployed and unemployable. The emotional shock and fear leave traumatic scars on the individuals and family members for the rest of their lives. In effect, an innocent person, once wrongly accused, can seldom be made whole again. There are other individual victims whose cases were also dismissed or found not guilty. Some agreed to much lesser infractions than the original charges to avoid financial ruins. Our nation loses their talents and contributions to the society when they are forced to leave the country. These cases are almost never reported by the government. This website dedicates one webpage each for impacted individuals, many of them are heroically speaking out and fighting back for justice and fairness. Sherry Chen and Professor Xiaoxing Xi are the raison d'être for APA Justice. If you know of similar cases, please contact us at [email protected]. |
Growing List of Impacted Persons
Simon Saw-Teong Ang (洪思忠) Baimadajie Angwang (昂旺) Sirous Asgari Gang Chen (陈刚) Sherry Chen (陈霞芬) Yanping Chen (陈燕平) Zhendong Cheng (成正东) Pearlie Epling-Burnette Xiang-Dong Fu Kun-Liang Guan Lei Guan (关磊) Anming Hu (胡安明) Haizhou Hu (胡海周) Xiao-Jiang Li (李晓江) Charles Lieber Haifan Lin (林海帆) Shaorong Liu (刘绍荣) Turab Lookman (特拉伯·鲁克曼) Wuyuan Lu Wanzhou Meng (孟晚舟) Dongfang Shao (邵東方) Shan Shi Chen Song (宋琛) Wei Su (苏炜) Weihong Tan (谭蔚泓) Juan Tang (唐娟) Franklin Tao (陶丰) Chunzai Wang (王春在) Li Wang Qing Wang (王擎) Xin Wang (王欣) Xifeng Wu (吴息凤) Ning Xi (席宁) Xiaoxing Xi (郗小星) Mingqing Xiao (肖明庆) Yue Xiong Haoyang Yu (于浩洋) Kaikai Zhao (赵凯凯) Zaosong Zheng (郑灶松) |
Shoucheng Zhang (张首晟)
According to Wikipedia, Shoucheng Zhang (Chinese: 张首晟; February 15, 1963 – December 1, 2018) was a Chinese-American physicist who was the JG Jackson and CJ Wood professor of physics at Stanford University. He was a condensed matter theorist known for his work on topological insulators, the quantum Hall effect, the quantum spin Hall effect, spintronics, and high-temperature superconductivity. Professor Zhang was a naturalized American citizen.
On December 1, 2018, Professor Zhang died in San Francisco, with a suicide note tucked into his left shirt pocket.
On May 3, 2020, The Wire published a comprehensive cover story titled "Death of a Quantum Man." It rasies the question, "Stanford physics professor Zhang Shoucheng, a potential Nobel laureate, was among the first casualties of the U.S.-China trade war. But when the world loses a brilliant scientist, who really wins?"
Links and References
2020/05/03 The Wire: Death of a Quantum Man
2019/01/23 Nature: Shoucheng Zhang (1963–2018)
2018/12/10 American Physcial Society: Shoucheng Zhang 1963-2018
Caixin: 杨振宁：张首晟是第一流的物理学家
2018/12/06 Stanford University: Stanford theoretical physicist Shoucheng Zhang dies at 55
BBC: 华裔物理学家张首晟去世，之前其公司遭到美国政府调查
On December 1, 2018, Professor Zhang died in San Francisco, with a suicide note tucked into his left shirt pocket.
On May 3, 2020, The Wire published a comprehensive cover story titled "Death of a Quantum Man." It rasies the question, "Stanford physics professor Zhang Shoucheng, a potential Nobel laureate, was among the first casualties of the U.S.-China trade war. But when the world loses a brilliant scientist, who really wins?"
Links and References
2020/05/03 The Wire: Death of a Quantum Man
2019/01/23 Nature: Shoucheng Zhang (1963–2018)
2018/12/10 American Physcial Society: Shoucheng Zhang 1963-2018
Caixin: 杨振宁：张首晟是第一流的物理学家
2018/12/06 Stanford University: Stanford theoretical physicist Shoucheng Zhang dies at 55
BBC: 华裔物理学家张首晟去世，之前其公司遭到美国政府调查
Professor Weihong Tan (谭蔚泓) was Distinguished Porfessor and V. T. and Louise Jackson Professor of Chemistry at the University of Florida (UF). He was the principal investigator of the Tan Research Group at UF and well recognized for work in chemical biology, molecular engineering, and bionanotechnology.
Porfessor Tan was subjected to NIH and FBI investigations about disclosures and left UF in 2019. He is now Vice President of Hunan Univeristy leading a research team focused on developing a fast, easy COVID-19 test at Hunan University.
Professor Tan's experience exemplifies a "reverse brain drain" as a consequence of profiling against Chinese American scientists. Read more about his story at Chronicle of Higher Education.
Porfessor Tan was subjected to NIH and FBI investigations about disclosures and left UF in 2019. He is now Vice President of Hunan Univeristy leading a research team focused on developing a fast, easy COVID-19 test at Hunan University.
Professor Tan's experience exemplifies a "reverse brain drain" as a consequence of profiling against Chinese American scientists. Read more about his story at Chronicle of Higher Education.
Dr. Pearlie Epling-Burnette was an immunologist who began working at Moffitt Cancer Center in 1988. On December 19, 2019, Moffitt told Dr. Epling-Burnette and five other senior scientists to resign immediately.
According to the Science Magazine article titled "Fired cancer scientist says ‘good people are being crushed’ by overzealous probes into possible Chinese ties," they were forced to leave for their involvement in collaborations with institutions in China that “violated multiple Moffitt policies and federal grant standards.” Dr. Epling-Burnette asserts that she is being blamed for things that never happened and her actions violated no federal or institutional policies. In fact, everything was done with Moffitt’s knowledge and consent.
Dr. Epling-Burnette has hired a lawyer, John Lauro, to help broadcast her message that these investigations pose a threat not just to those caught up in them, but to the entire U.S. research enterprise— and to the country.
According to the Science Magazine article titled "Fired cancer scientist says ‘good people are being crushed’ by overzealous probes into possible Chinese ties," they were forced to leave for their involvement in collaborations with institutions in China that “violated multiple Moffitt policies and federal grant standards.” Dr. Epling-Burnette asserts that she is being blamed for things that never happened and her actions violated no federal or institutional policies. In fact, everything was done with Moffitt’s knowledge and consent.
Dr. Epling-Burnette has hired a lawyer, John Lauro, to help broadcast her message that these investigations pose a threat not just to those caught up in them, but to the entire U.S. research enterprise— and to the country.
Dr. Ehab Meselhe is a prominent Egyptian American professor of the Department of River-Coastal Science and Engineering at Tulane University. Mr. Kelin Hu (胡克林) is a computer scientist and research assistant professor at Tulane University who is a U.S. permanent resident born in China.
On May 29, 2019, both men were charged by the U.S. government for trade secret theft (a computer simulation program that models the evolving Mississippi River Delta) and computer fraud (case no. 3:19-cr-00061). The case was dismissed on July 17, 2019 after the government admitted that "it cannot meet its burden of proof in this matter.” A law.com commentary said "prosecutions Don’t Get Much More Pathetic Than This Case." Read more about this case under Current State.
On May 29, 2019, both men were charged by the U.S. government for trade secret theft (a computer simulation program that models the evolving Mississippi River Delta) and computer fraud (case no. 3:19-cr-00061). The case was dismissed on July 17, 2019 after the government admitted that "it cannot meet its burden of proof in this matter.” A law.com commentary said "prosecutions Don’t Get Much More Pathetic Than This Case." Read more about this case under Current State.
Dr. Xifeng Wu, an award-winning epidemiologist and naturalized American citizen, quietly stepped down as director of the Center for Public Health and Translational Genomics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center after a three-month investigation into her professional ties in China. "Historians will have to sort out whether Wu’s story and others like it marked a turning point when U.S. research institutions got serious about China’s avarice for American intellectual property, or a dangerous lurch down the path of paranoia and racial profiling. Or both." Dr. Wu joined Zhejiang University as its Dean of School of Public Health in March 2019, becoming another example of how racial profiling harms the long-term interests of America by forcing talented and renowned scientists, many of them naturalized U.S. citizens, out of the country into the welcoming arms of China.
Read more about Dr. Xifeng Wu here: https://www.apajustice.org/xifeng-wu.html
Read more about Dr. Xifeng Wu here: https://www.apajustice.org/xifeng-wu.html
Guoqing Cao (front left), Shuyu Li (front right)
Dr. Guoqing Cao and Dr. Shuyu Li are naturalized U.S. citizens born in China. They were biologists at the Eli Lilly and Company. Cao and Li were indicted on July 16, 2013, and alleged to have stolen $55 million in trade secrets, which was later changed to wire fraud (Case No. 1:13-cr-00150). The charges were dropped more than a year later on December 5, 2014.
Xiaorong Wang (back left)
Dr. Xiaorong Wang was an award-winning scientist at Bridgestone Americas Center for Research and Technology with a doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering and Material Science. He was indicted on August 14, 2012, and accused of stealing trade secrets from the research center and giving them to a Chinese company (Case No. 5:12-cr-00380). His case was dropped on October 9, 2012.
Dr. Xiaorong Wang is now a Distinguished Professor of School of Chemical Science and Engineering and of Institute for Advanced Study at Tongji University at Shanghai, China.
Dr. Xiaorong Wang is now a Distinguished Professor of School of Chemical Science and Engineering and of Institute for Advanced Study at Tongji University at Shanghai, China.
Jing Zeng is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China. He was an employee of Machine Zone, Inc., making an online video game. He has a Bachelor degree in Electronics Engineering and a Master degree in Business Administration. Zeng was arrested at San Francisco International Airport on August 20, 2015, as he prepared to board a flight for China. He was orginally indicted for theft of trade secrets, which was later changed to intentionally causing damage to a protected computer in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (Case No. 4:16-cr-00172). Zeng was acquitted on December 6, 2017.
Dr. Haiping Su is a natualized U.S. citizen born in China. He is an Earth Scientist at Ames Research Center, National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA). According to court documents, the Federal Bureau of Investigation opened an investigation on Dr. Su in 2003. On June 24, 2008, Dr. Su was denied access as “a security risk” to the facilities by a debarment letter and escorted out of the research center although his work was based only on publicly available data. An attempt to terminate Dr. Su was rescinded after a telecommuting agreement was reached through September 2013. Dr. Su sued NASA under the Federal Tort Claims Act and the Privacy Act for deprivation of privacy on April 9, 2010 (Case No. 5:09-cv-02838). The lawsuit was described as an anti-discrimination suit that accused the U.S. government and NASA of racial profiling. The presiding judge ruled in favor of Dr. Su on violation of his privacy rights, but denied the tort claims on April 17, 2013. Dr. Su was reportedly awarded $10,000 in September 2014.
More Impacted Persons
2020/10/07 South China Morning Post: China-born US citizen charged over alleged theft of American trade secrets
2020/06/22 Law360: Ex-ADI Employee Sees Anti-Chinese Bias In IP Theft Charges
2020/06/22 Law360: Ex-ADI Employee Sees Anti-Chinese Bias In IP Theft Charges