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The China Initiative
Chen was one of the highest profile scientists to be indicted under the China Initiative, a Justice Department program launched under the Trump administration to combat economic espionage and national security threats by the People’s Republic of China.
Despite the stated purpose, an investigation by MIT Technology Review noted that the initiative is increasingly focused on prosecuting academics for research integrity issues — hiding affiliations or funding from Chinese institutions on grant or visa forms — rather than industrial spies stealing trade secrets. Only 19 of 77 cases (25%) identified by MIT Technology Review alleged violations of the Industrial Espionage Act, while 23 cases (30%) alleged grant or visa fraud by academics.
Our reporting has also revealed that the initiative has disproportionately affected scientists of Chinese descent, who make up 130 (88%) of the 148 people charged under the initiative.
Chen’s case is the eighth research integrity case to be dismissed at trial. Last month, Harvard professor Charles Lieber was found guilty on six counts of false testimony and tax fraud, while the trial of University of Tennessee-Knoxville professor Anming Hu, the first research integrity case to face a jury, went first in ended in a trial and then a full acquittal.
Research integrity cases from MIT Technology Review’s China Initiative Database
A catalyzing case
Chen’s indictment raised awareness and opposition to the initiative, both because of his preeminence in his field and the seemingly routine activities for which he was prosecuted, including collaborating with a Chinese university at the behest of his home institution. “We are all Gang Chen,” a group of MIT faculty wrote at the time, expressing both support for their colleague and concern over how their own activities could entail government scrutiny.
“The end of the criminal case is great news for Professor Chen, and his defense team deserves credit for their work,” said Margaret Lewis, a law professor at Seton Hall University who has written about the China Initiative. “But let’s not forget that he was first interrogated at the airport two years ago and charged a year ago. The human cost is high even if the charges are dropped.”
In a note to the MIT community shortly after filing the dismissal, MIT President L. Rafael Reif provided more details on these human costs. “Gang was first arrested at Logan Airport about six weeks before the pandemic hit our community. The hardships on him and his family members since then have been unimaginable,” he wrote, acknowledging that “this case has also caused lasting distress in our community, particularly for gang friends, students and colleagues, and for those at MIT and elsewhere who are of Chinese descent are.”
“Having believed in Gang from the start, we can all be thankful that a just outcome to a destructive trial is beginning to emerge. We look forward to his full return to our community,” Reif said.
