US charges Chinese researcher with visa fraud, alleges active PLA duty
- FBI accuses Song Chen of lying about her status while conducting medical research at Stanford University
- Latest in a series of similar indictments aimed at countering espionage by China
Song Chen was charged “in connection with a scheme to lie about her status as an active member of the People’s Republic of China’s military forces” while conducting medical research at Stanford, US Attorney David Anderson and Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent John Bennett said in a Justice Department announcement on Monday.
According to the July 17 indictment, Song said on her US visa application, submitted in 2018, that her military service ended in 2011, which conflicted with FBI evidence pointing to the defendant’s status as an active duty member of civilian cadres of the People’s Liberation Army.
Part of the evidence included a letter recovered from a deleted hard drive folder that was obtained in a seizure of Song’s items, the court document said. The letter, in which Song identified herself by her name, birth date, and occupation as a doctor in neurology, was addressed to China’s consulate in New York.
Song explained in the letter that “her stated employer, Beijing Xi Diaoyutai Hospital, is a false front, and that, as a result, she had obtained approval for her extension from both the PLA Air Force and [China’s Fourth Military Medical University (FMMU)]”, according to the court document.
Another piece of evidence used by the FBI was Song’s designation as a co-author of a 2018 study “in affiliation with the Air Force General Hospital on silent brain infarction experienced by flying personnel”.
That position differed from Wang’s statement on his visa application in 2018, which said the purpose of his visit was to conduct scientific research at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the complaint said, adding that Wang “stated that he intentionally made false statements about his military service in his visa application in order to increase the likelihood that he would receive his … visa”.