Chinese Scientists in America Come Under New Wave of Suspici

[source image]
Dow Jones NewsApr 23, 3:00 AM UTC
DJ Chinese Scientists in America Come Under New Wave of Suspicion -- WSJ

By Shen Lu

 

On March 28, FBI agents raided two homes belonging to Xiaofeng Wang, a computer-science professor at Indiana University Bloomington. Hours later, the university fired him without explanation.

 

Those events deepened a mystery around Wang, a well-known expert in cybersecurity who had worked at the university for two decades. His faculty page had suddenly gone missing from the university's website weeks earlier.

 

It later emerged that the university had been investigating Wang over undisclosed alleged China collaborations, though the connection with a Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry remained unclear. The university declined to comment on Wang's firing. It said it was recently made aware of a federal investigation of a faculty member but declined to say more "at the direction of the FBI."

 

In addition, Wang's wife, Nianli Ma, lost her job as an Indiana University library analyst without being given a reason. Wang and Ma are Chinese citizens with permanent residency in the U.S. Jason Covert, a lawyer representing Wang and his wife, said that neither has been charged with a crime and that they aren't in police custody.

 

Wang's story has sent a familiar chill through the community of Chinese scientists in the U.S. Many of them fear a renewal of the government suspicion, political pressure and criminal prosecution they faced under the first Trump administration, in the midst of escalating tensions between the administration and universities.

 

Geopolitical competition has eroded once-thriving scientific collaboration between the U.S. and China. In Washington, there is intensifying bipartisan concern over Chinese theft of American intellectual property. U.S. federal courts in recent years have convicted several individuals of Chinese origin for stealing trade secrets from American companies. Beijing, meanwhile, is pursuing an aggressive campaign to "delete America" from its tech ecosystem and nurture homegrown innovation.

 

Scrutiny of U.S.-based scientists and students from China has intensified in the months since Donald Trump returned to the White House. In February, he signed a presidential memorandum aimed at preventing national-security risk posed by China, building on campaigns launched during his first presidency, including the China Initiative, which scrutinized scientists' ties to China. While the Biden administration wound down the China Initiative because of concern over racial profiling, Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida introduced a bill in February to revive a version of it.

 

Last month, Republican lawmakers introduced bills that would ban Chinese nationals from accessing national labs or seeking U.S. student visas. Also in March, GOP Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan, chair of the House Select Committee on China, sent requests to the presidents of six universities demanding information about Chinese students in STEM -- science, technology, engineering and math -- programs.

 

"America's student visa system has become a Trojan horse for Beijing, providing unrestricted access to our top research institutions and posing a direct threat to our national security," Moolenaar wrote in his requests.

 

Critics of the increased scrutiny have said that targeting Chinese scientists threatens to erode American competitiveness and that doing so might make it easier for China to persuade top scientists to come home.

 

China is the largest source of international doctoral students in STEM programs, according to the National Science Foundation. Most U.S.-trained Chinese scientists have stayed on, educating new generations of scientists and engineers at U.S. universities or helping to drive innovation at American companies, according to experts in science policy.

 

"The more you close up and set up boundaries and borders, it's just going to weaken your science," said Caroline S. Wagner, who researches science and technology policy at Ohio State University.

 

The bills in Washington aren't certain to pass, and it couldn't be determined whether the universities have responded to Moolenaar's requests.

 

Visas for scores of Chinese students, including some who are doing frontier artificial-intelligence research at top-tier universities, have been revoked in recent days without explanation. Lawyers who represented Chinese or Chinese-American scientists who were investigated under the China Initiative have cited an uptick in clients reporting over the past two months that they have been approached by U.S. law enforcement about past collaboration or contacts with institutions in China.

 

"I've had clients call me when they got contacted by the FBI: 'Is my house going to be raided?'" said Rob Fisher, a lawyer at Nixon Peabody who represented two scientists indicted during the first Trump administration. "You have a whole community of scientists who live in fear."

 

While China continues to promote international scientific collaboration and lures foreign academics with generous funding, it has also tightened restrictions over foreign access to research in China, particularly in sensitive areas.

 

The hundreds of investigations that the Trump administration started through the China Initiative and a parallel campaign at the National Institutes of Health turned up criminal activity in only a small number of cases, though the climate it conjured prompted an exodus of scientists. Between 2018 and 2021, 5,361 Chinese scientists in STEM fields left the U.S. for China, a 53% surge over the previous four-year period, according to a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

 

Many of the probes were based on allegations of undisclosed research collaborations in China that purportedly exploited or conflicted with U.S. grants. In the past, few U.S. universities scrutinized such collaborations, and many actively encouraged them, according to U.S.-based scientists.

 

Wang, who joined the Indiana University faculty in 2004, had frequently worked with academics in China on projects related to cryptography, privacy and cybersecurity. According to an archived version of his removed faculty page, he was listed as the lead researcher on nearly $23 million in research grants since joining the university.

 

The university contacted Wang in December to inquire about a 2017 grant in China with his name on it, according to people familiar with the matter. Wang wasn't aware of the grant, which had been applied for by his Chinese research partners, the people said. The university opened a formal investigation into Wang several weeks before the FBI raids.

 

The FBI confirmed searching Wang's homes but declined to say whether the searches were related to his employment. A local court last week denied a motion to unseal the search warrants.

 

The Bloomington chapter of the American Association of University Professors said the university denied Wang due process in his termination. More than 700 U.S.-based scholars signed a letter to the university's provost issued Tuesday protesting Wang's dismissal.

 

"It hurts deeply that a country that we trusted and contributed to for so long now treats us like criminals," Ma, Wang's wife, said in a virtual address to supporters last week.

 

Chinese media and universities have in recent months celebrated the returns of acclaimed scientists and engineers as well as up-and-coming stars in fields including chip design, AI, mechanical engineering, nanoscience and cancer research.

 

In February, an English-language advertisement from recruiters in the southern Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen aimed at U.S.-based scientists and researchers started circulating on social media. "Here, an open and inclusive spirit embraces the world," the ad said.

 

Write to Shen Lu at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

 

April 22, 2025 23:00 ET (03:00 GMT)

 
Copyright © 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.