Professor charged with industrial espionage in US says it discriminates against Chinese scholars

A Chinese professor charged in the United States with economic espionage said Chinese scholars and engineers in the United States face discrimination and “absurd” suspicions from the government that they are stealing technologies.

Zhang Hao of Tianjin University told the state-backed Global Times in remarks published on Monday that the US government had unfairly accused him and other Chinese nationals who work or attend college in the United States of stealing sensitive technology.

Zhang was one of six Chinese nationals charged by the US government in May with economic espionage. The US authorities said they stole secrets from two companies that develop technology often used in military systems.

“At this time, the US government holds a pervasive, unfair view of ethnic Chinese academics and engineers, always looking at us with the attitude of ‘guarding against thieves’,” Zhang told the paper.

“They believe that coming to the US to study abroad or engage in scientific research is tantamount to wanting to steal US technology. This is absurd.”

Zhang could not immediately be reached for comment.