Activists counter that the vast majority of academic China Initiative-related cases involve reporting problems and misstatements rather than industrial espionage or theft of secrets charges that are much harder to prove. This amounts to racial profiling and guilt by association that spreads distrust of Asians, ruins careers and chills genuine scientific discovery, they say.

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Chinese-American scientists fear US racial profiling

Chinese-American scientists fear US racial profiling

“We do university partnerships all the time. It’s not illegal to do research, it’s just a reporting issue,” said Wing-kai To, assistant provost at Massachusetts’s Bridgewater State University and a vocal critic of the initiative. “Lumping everything together with the China Initiative, including hackers, smugglers and those who fill out a form incorrectly, that’s what’s crazy about this.”

The prosecution of Lieber, who had been chairman of Harvard’s chemistry department, stands out. Most US cases implicating science professors recruited by China have involved defendants of Chinese descent. But this case, involving a Caucasian from such a prestigious university, has left some wondering whether it was purposely chosen to dispute allegations of racial bias and serve as a warning to academia. The Justice Department says it does not factor race into its decision to pursue cases.

“It’s all coming out of the China Initiative,” said Jeremy Wu, founder of APA Justice, one of numerous groups fighting to end the programme. “He may not be Asian-American, but it’s still the nexus with China.”

Lieber, a tenured Harvard faculty member and world-class expert in nanoscience and nanomaterials, was arrested on January 28, 2020, on charges of lying about funding he received from China.

Nanotechnology involves the manipulation of individual atoms. It offers great promise in sectors ranging from pharmaceuticals to hydrogen fuel cells and is a priority under Beijing’s “Made in China 2025” plan for getting ahead in the global technology race.

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The government’s case focuses on what prosecutors say were false statements Lieber made to the FBI and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2018 involving his relationship to the Wuhan University of Technology and the Thousand Talents Plan. That plan is a programme Beijing set up in 2008 to recruit hi-tech expertise. There is no suggestion that the case is related to the origin of the Covid-19 virus.

The US government makes no claim that Lieber’s relationship with the Wuhan university or talent programme was illegal. Rather, it says Lieber sought to hide those relationships in dealings with the Department of Defence and NIH, which funded his research, and the Internal Revenue Service.

In court documents, the government points to bank accounts Lieber had in Wuhan where the Chinese university deposited payments and Lieber withdrew cash when in China. He did not declare the income or disclose the bank accounts to US tax authorities, it added.

Lieber has pleaded not guilty, saying that he did not act knowingly, intentionally or wilfully make any false statements. Harvard has placed him on paid administrative leave and his teaching duties have been suspended.

According to a study released in September by Andrew Chongseh Kim, a lawyer and law professor, sponsored by the Committee of 100 civic group, cases involving Chinese professors under the Economic Espionage Act appear to have a racial tinge.

Those of Chinese descent were far more likely to have their cases heralded in press releases and far more likely to be handcuffed, arrested, imprisoned and receive sentences twice as long as non-Chinese, the study found. And one in three Asians accused of espionage may have been falsely accused, it added.

Another survey by the Committee of 100 found that some 40 per cent of scientists of Chinese descent had more trouble getting funding, were fearful of being surveilled and felt they are being racially profiled by Washington – significantly higher levels than non-Chinese.

“The unfair and unequal discriminatory treatment of Chinese-Americans and Asian-Americans in contrast to people with non-Asian names is absolutely shocking and unacceptable,” Gary Locke, chairman of the Committee of 100 and a former US ambassador to China, said in releasing the report, “another lesson learned from the Red Scare and McCarthyism of the 1950s.”

According to a recent Justice Department website entry, the Biden administration has continued to prosecute China Initiative cases, highlighting 21 prosecutions, including the conviction of a Chinese government official for conspiracy charges related to economic espionage and theft of trade secrets.

Lieber faces six charges related to wrongful declarations and tax evasion. Among his main arguments, according to court documents, are that the government’s case rests on witnesses who are in China involving activities that are not relevant to the charges. Of the 123 email exchanges the government plans to present as evidence, Lieber and his lawyers said, 93 appear to be between him and someone not on any witness list, and should therefore be excluded from consideration.

“These emails present serious authentication issues and hearsay problems,” Lieber said in documents, decrying the “sheer volume of these ‘witness-less’ emails”.

The government has countered that Lieber was motivated by the cover-up in part to protect his reputation and career at Harvard. A few years after joining the Thousand Talents programme, it said, he was named chairman of Harvard’s chemistry and chemical biology department.

Much of the government’s case relies on its access to the Harvard email system and electronic devices seized when Lieber was arrested. The government maintains that his subterfuge was conscious, citing an email Lieber wrote that told a colleague he would be “careful about what I discuss with Harvard University, and none of this will be shared with the government investigators at this time”, according to court documents.

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Lieber’s duties under the Chinese talent programme included advising students in Wuhan, reviewing manuscripts and publishing scientific papers giving the Wuhan technology university credit, court documents say.

Lieber was diagnosed with cancer nearly 10 years ago and is currently undergoing treatment. “The defence has assured the government it will not seek to use the defendant’s health for an improper purpose, such as to generate sympathy for the defendant,” the government wrote. “The government nonetheless felt it is necessary to highlight this issue for the court in light of the defendant’s proposed exhibit list.”

Some 42 of Lieber’s exhibits relate to his health, the government said, adding that these appear to have little purpose “other than to inflame the jury” and would amount to hearsay and a confusing distraction.

Lieber’s lawyers fought to disallow one of the government’s witnesses – Barry Naughton, a professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego – from appearing on the grounds that his expertise is “derived from nothing more than social interactions”.

The court ruled in favour of Lieber, arguing that any context Naughton might provide on the Thousand Talents Plan was not necessary for jury members to understand the legal issues under consideration and was potentially “unhelpful” and “a waste of time”.