Fear mounts that Chinese-American scientists are being targeted amid US national security crackdown
- ‘Any scientist should be very worried because this is hurting US science and technology,’ says a professor who was arrested and is now suing the FBI
- Concerns are raised about bias and ethnic profiling
In the wake of several Chinese-American scientists being dismissed from their research jobs in the US, fear is rising that the group is being unfairly targeted and has become a victim of the competitive feud between Beijing and Washington.
In May, the husband-and-wife neuroscience research team of Li Xiaojiang and Li Shihua were fired by Emory University in Georgia after being accused of failing to disclose funding ties to China. In April, MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston ousted three Chinese-American researchers who were allegedly conducting espionage on behalf of the Chinese government.
Other Chinese-American scientists say they have experienced FBI calls and visits without being accused of any crime. Visiting scholars and science-major students are confronted with a tightened visa process.
The series of events has shocked the community and brought worries about bias and ethnic profiling.
“What’s happening with MD Anderson and Emory University is very concerning,” said Xiaoxing Xi, former chairman of the physics department at Temple University in Philadelphia. “It all started from the FBI gaining access to email accounts of Chinese scientists.”
Xi, who addressed a China Institute forum in New York on Thursday, was speaking from personal experience: four years ago, he was accused of stealing superconductor secrets for China.