Friends rally to dispel 'Chinese spy' claims against ex-Nasa contractor

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Jiang Bo was arrested on Saturday on a plane bound for Beijing. Photo: Screenshot from media reports

Published: 11:53am, 21 Mar 2013Updated: 6:12pm, 21 Mar 2013

Days after Jiang Bo, a Chinese national who worked at Nasa’s Langley Research Center, was arrested on a plane bound for Beijing and charged with lying to US authorities, his friends are protesting what they call “unfair media coverage” that paints him into a Chinese spy.

People deserve to hear the other side of the story, especially in a country that prides itself in its independent and free press, they say.

“[Calling him a spy] is total nonsense,” Xing, a longtime friend and former schoolmate of Jiang, wrote on Mitbbs.com, a popular forum for Chinese expats studying and working in the US.

Xing explained that Jiang was not 'fleeing' US as reported by some media. Jiang was leaving the US on a one-way ticket after he had learned his contract with Nasa would not be renewed. Jiang was headed back to China to spend time with his family, before reporting to a new job in Europe.

According to an FBI affidavit, when agents asked Jiang what electronic media he had with him during the investigation, Jiang told them he had a mobile phone, a memory stick, an external hard drive and a new computer. But agents later found an extra laptop, an old hard drive and a Sim card.

“From the way FBI agents asked these questions, Jiang could easily have been misled into thinking to mention only the objects in his carry-on, but not his checked-in luggage,” Xing wrote in Jiang's defence.

“His spoken English isn’t so good, and I wonder if he had explained himself clearly, especially when he could have been really nervous,” Xing added.

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