Chinese military officer arrested, charged with visa fraud as he tries to leave United States
- Scientific researcher Xin Wang accused of making false statements on his visa application, faces 10 years in prison if found guilty
- US customs officials say Wang was trying to take university research out of the country to share with military colleagues in China
A Chinese military officer was arrested while trying to leave the US on Sunday with government-funded research from University of California, and has been charged with visa fraud, the US Department of Justice said on Thursday.
That position differs from what Wang stated 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”.
When he applied for his US visa, Wang said he had served as an associate professor in medicine in the PLA from 2002 to 2016, it said.
As Wang prepared to depart from Los Angeles International Airport on a flight to Tianjin, he told US customs agents that he “had been instructed by his supervisor, the director of his military university lab in [China], to observe the layout of the UCSF lab and bring back information on how to replicate it in China”, according to a justice department announcement.