The U.S. Department of Justice dropped all charges against Chinese-American professor Chen Gang, the "China Action Plan, or canceled."

The Paper's chief reporter Liu Dong

On January 20, local time, the U.S. Department of Justice federal prosecutor proposed to revoke the government's motion against Chen Gang, a well-known scholar of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a professor of Chinese descent. At present, the judge has approved the motion. This is another major setback for the Justice Department's so-called China Initiative.

In his motion to dismiss the lawsuit, U.S. Department of Justice federal prosecutor Rachel Rollins said, "We have obtained important information about the defendants' alleged omissions in the course of our investigations." After a holistic assessment of the evidence based on this information, the Government can no longer fulfil its burden of proof at trial. It is therefore in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment. ”

In response, Mr. Chen's defense lawyer, Robert Fisher, responded in a statement to the www.thepaper.cn, "The government has finally acknowledged what we have been saying: Professor Chen Gang is innocent." "Our defense has never been based on any legal technical details." Chen Gang did not commit any of the crimes he was charged with. He has never participated in any talent training program. He disclosed everything that should have been disclosed and never lied to the government or anyone else. ”

Chen Gang himself briefly expressed his mixed feelings in the statement: "Although I am relieved that my suffering experience is over, I know that this extremely wrong 'China Action Plan' will continue to bring unwarranted fear to the academic community, and other scientists still face accusations." ”

The case against Mr. Chen is one of the most high-profile of the China Action Plan, which began in 2018 under former President Donald Trump and was officially declared by the United States to be an effort to address foreign security and technological threats. However, most of the respondents were dismissed solely for some clerical errors or lesser misconduct and were subject to serious criminal charges.

U.S. legal experts point out that law enforcement investigations named after a country are rare in U.S. history. With this, more and more Chinese students in the United States, Scholars of Chinese Descent, and scientists are being investigated for unfair treatment simply because of their race, nationality, or ties to China, which has created a "chilling effect" in the Chinese community.

In the early morning of January 14, 2021, Chen Gang, an academician of the National Academy of Engineering and a well-known Chinese professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was arrested at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Chen Gang's arrest caused a huge reaction among scientists in China and the United States. In the weeks that followed, the U.S. and Chinese academics launched a rare wave of solidarity. MIT said it would bear all the costs of legal proceedings in Chen Gang's case.

Since his arrest, Chen Gang has been on paid leave at MIT. After the news of the prosecutor's retraction of the case on the 20th, MIT Dean Rafael Reif said that he was eager for Chen Gang to return to school to continue his work, and the burden the case brought to the latter and his family was "beyond imagination." ”

Chen Gang's case is the eighth case related to the China Action Plan, which was rejected before trial. Notably, the first case under the program to enter the trial stage was acquitted by the government in September last year because the U.S. government did not provide sufficient evidence to support the allegations, and the government lost the case last September, and the accused University of Tennessee Chinese scholar Juan Ming was acquitted.

The New York Times reported on Jan. 20 that Biden administration officials are expected to announce changes to the China Action Plan in the coming weeks. Several current and former Justice Department officials said the name "China Action Plan" could be removed and cases under its name could no longer be packaged into separate categories but reintegrated into the work of the Justice Department's National Security Division.

In response to the prosecutor's decision to withdraw the prosecution of Professor Chen Gang of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Committee of 100, which is committed to safeguarding the rights and interests of Chinese Americans, issued a statement on the 20th, once again calling on the government to immediately cancel the "China Action Plan".

"The vast majority of the defendants were ultimately not convicted or fired, and the campaign has greatly damaged the lives, careers, and health of many innocent Chinese-Americans, as well as damaged U.S. leadership in global research and innovation." Given the program's mistakes and the serious negative impact on individuals and institutions, the Hundred, together with the Asia Pacific American community, other civil rights organizations and higher education institutions, called on the Ministry of Justice to halt the program immediately. The statement said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, speaking at a regular news conference on January 18, said that the essence of the so-called "China Action Plan" is nothing more than a clumsy tool for US anti-China forces to abuse the concept of national security and contain and suppress China. The US side should listen to the just voices of all walks of life, correct its erroneous practices as soon as possible, stop using China as an "imaginary enemy," stop fabricating excuses to smear and suppress China, and stop interfering with and undermining normal Sino-US exchanges and cooperation in the fields of science and technology and humanities.

Editor-in-charge: Hu Zhenqing Photo Editor: Shen Ke

Proofreader: Yan Zhang