A US congressional committee has released hundreds of pages of records detailing investigations into about 30 scientists, many of them Chinese-American, over alleged undisclosed payments, research appointments and links to Chinese talent recruitment programmes. The disclosures offer a broader view of government scrutiny of academic researchers with connections to China, as lawmakers seek tighter restrictions on international research partnerships.
The documents were published alongside a report by the House Select Committee on China entitled “How to Stop China’s Theft of Taxpayer-Funded Research”. The report challenges arguments by universities and academic organisations that tougher research security rules threaten academic freedom. According to the committee, the records originated from investigations by the National Science Foundation’s Office of Inspector General (NSF OIG), including cases that had not previously been reported publicly. The National Science Foundation, which funds much of the United States’ basic research, declined to comment.
The files concern allegations involving undisclosed compensation from Chinese institutions, participation in talent recruitment programmes, foreign appointments and failures to disclose information required by federal funding agencies. The committee said the investigations covered “undisclosed foreign appointments, compensation from [Chinese] institutions, participation in Chinese talent recruitment programmes, conflicts of commitment, and repeated failures to disclose information required by federal research funding agencies”.
The outcomes varied. Most cases ended without criminal charges, although some were referred for criminal investigation. A smaller number resulted in prosecutions and convictions, some of which were later overturned. Some researchers left their university positions or the United States, while the NSF inspector general recommended suspending grants or preventing researchers from receiving future federal funding in several cases.
It remains unclear whether every investigation was conducted under the China Initiative, a programme launched by the US Department of Justice in 2018 to counter alleged Chinese economic espionage and the theft of American intellectual property and research. Many of the cases date to the programme’s active years during President Donald Trump’s first term, from 2017 to 2021.
Hundreds of researchers, many of Chinese descent, are believed to have been investigated under the initiative before President Joe Biden’s administration discontinued it in 2022. Critics argued that the programme failed to uncover espionage in many cases while subjecting Chinese-American academics to disproportionate scrutiny. They also contended that ordinary international research partnerships were being treated as potential criminal conduct.
The newly released records include the case of Chu Xiang-qiang, a former physicist at Wayne State University who is now an associate professor at City University of Hong Kong. The NSF accused Chu of spending extended periods in China and holding additional employment there that she had not disclosed. A subsequently withdrawn abstract published by the American Physical Society listed her affiliation with the graduate school of the China Academy of Engineering Physics, based in Sichuan and involved in Chinese nuclear weapons research.
Chu rejected the allegations in an emailed response to the South China Morning Post, insisting that she had disclosed her Chinese employment. “I joined the Graduate School of China Academy of Engineering Physics [in Beijing] as a full-time professor, which was fully disclosed during the years I worked there,” she wrote.
She said she had resigned from her American university position and returned unused research funding before any suspension action was taken. Chu also said her move to Hong Kong “was a personal decision and had nothing to do with [the investigation]”. She added that she did not know whether the NSF had barred her from serving as a reviewer or panellist for three years. The inspector general had recommended that restriction in April 2019.
The release comes as John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, presses for stricter research security rules through proposed legislation known as the Securing Innovation and Research from Adversaries Act. The bill would prohibit federally funded researchers from collaborating with entities on US government restricted lists, allowing exceptions only through rare, case-by-case waivers.
Concerns about racial profiling have accompanied the debate. A 2021 survey by the Committee of 100, a Chinese-American advocacy group, and the University of Arizona found that 42.2 per cent of scientists of Chinese descent felt they had been racially profiled by the US government.
Haipei Shue, president of the non-profit organisation United Chinese Americans and a civil rights activist, said the records revived “troubled memories” of the China Initiative’s early years. “Though the initiative was shut down, the fallout has been immense,” he said. “It eroded trust by causing Chinese-Americans to feel their patriotism was questioned, chilled global scientific collaboration, and triggered academic ‘decoupling’ between the US and China.”
