Scholars seek US citizenship for protection

Chinese academics working in the United States have been rushing to seek citizenship as a safeguard following the detention and subsequent conviction of City University academic Li Shaomin on spying charges.

Professor Frankie Leung Fook-lun, from the University of Southern California Law School, said academics studying in China had closely monitored events surrounding Professor Li's case.

He said he was told by several political science professors that some US-based Chinese scholars doing PhDs and post-doctorate research on the mainland had postponed field work until later this year.

Dr Li, who is a US citizen and marketing associate professor at City University, was convicted in Beijing of spying for Taiwan and deported to the US last month. Dr Li, who had been detained on the mainland for more than four months, was subsequently allowed to return to Hong Kong and keep his job.

The academic, who was accused of passing on state secrets, insisted he was only collecting industrial data and scholars' views for academic purposes.

'Scholars and researchers engaged in the study of China have been paying a great deal of attention to Dr Li's case,' Professor Leung said.

He said opinions among his university-teaching colleagues from the mainland were divided on the impact of Dr Li's case.