"We thought we had achieved the American Dream until this nightmare happened." Chen Gang said.
It had been a year since the arrest of Chen Gang, a Chinese-American professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that the U.S. Department of Justice dropped the charges against him. On February 23, Chen Gang was interviewed by CBS, and although the wrongful conviction has been washed away, Chen Gang said bluntly: "I will never be the same as before." ”
On the same day, on February 23, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would terminate the China Initiative to arrest "Chinese spies." The infamous program, launched by the Trump administration in 2018, is designed to prevent China from engaging in "economic espionage" and so-called "stealing scientific research." However, the Justice Department does not regret it. CbS moderators said prosecutors refused to apologize to Mr. Chen, even saying it played a role in "general deterrence."
CBS reports
The time goes back to the morning of January 14, 2021, the day Chen Gang was arrested. Early that morning, more than 10 federal agents arrived at Mr. Chen's home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, blocked the surrounding streets, and walked all the way to the narrow corridor leading to his door.
"The way they walked through the corridor let me know they were coming for me," Mr. Chen said. "They said, 'Are you Chen Gang?' I said, 'Yes.'" They said, 'Don't move.'"
At 6:30 a.m., agents asked Chen Gang to stand in the corner and then went to wake up his wife and daughter.
"My wife was sleeping," Chen Gang said, "and she told me when she heard the man shouting 'Police!'" The police! When she thought she was dreaming. ”
Subsequently, Chen Gang was handcuffed and taken away and imprisoned. At a news conference after his arrest, then-prosecutor Andrew Lelling said it was about "loyalty to China."
"The allegations in the indictment show that this is not just greed, but loyalty to China."
Gang Chen is a Chinese-American (a graduate of Huazhong University of Science and Technology) and serves as director of the MIT Papado Micro and Nano Engineering Laboratory and director of the Solid-State Solar Thermal Conversion Center. Beginning around 2013, his research at MIT received more than $19 million in grants from U.S. federal agencies.
Since 2012, Gang Chen has held a number of positions in China, with the aim of promoting china's technological development and reaping economic rewards by providing advice and expertise. Since 2013, he is accused of accepting about $29 million in foreign funding, including $19 million from Southern University of Science and Technology in China.
After his arrest, Chen Gang was charged with wire fraud (not reporting partnerships with Chinese research institutions when applying for a U.S. Department of Energy grant in 2017), making false statements on tax returns, failing to file foreign bank account reports, and facing up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Professor Gang Chen of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was interviewed by CBS News. Video screenshots
However, many of the allegations in the indictment are untenable. The amount of cooperation does not belong to Chen Gang personally, but belongs to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and this cooperation has also been promoted on the school's official website and has not been deliberately concealed.
Rafael Reif, the dean of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also held a grudge on Behalf of Mr. Chen, much to the chills of the scientific community.
Reif said: "He took it as part of his job. Professors here are seeking funding, writing plans, receiving money, and working with students to advance science. ”
"It [the China Action Plan] is scaring the best talent in the world, and we in this country need that talent, so they don't dare to enter this country." ”
"I think it's an attack on all Chinese Americans in the United States, especially in academia." Reif said. "I feel like it's somehow an attack on every alien who was born in the United States and they're told, 'We don't really trust you.'"
Chen Gang was one of the academics arrested for the China Initiative. Under the plan to capture "Chinese spies", 20 researchers have been innocently affected, the vast majority of whom are Chinese scientists. According to the New York Times, data released by the MIT Technology Review shows that 90 percent of the defendants are of Chinese descent, and the proportion of defendants who are eventually convicted is about a quarter. According to CBS, six "China Action Plan" cases against researchers are still pending so far, three of whom are of Chinese American descent.
But to this day, the Justice Department still denies bias in the China Initiative. The Ministry of Justice did not regret it, refused to apologize to Chen Gang, and even said that this played a role in "killing chickens and making monkeys".
Justice Minister Merrick Garland stressed last October: "We have never investigated or prosecuted a person based on racial identity, i.e. the country from which a person comes from. ”
Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew M. Matthew Olsen also told CBS that no signs of racial bias were found in an internal review of the China Action Plan.
However, this plan has triggered widespread protests and controversy over racial discrimination, and under pressure, on February 23, local time, the US Department of Justice announced the termination of the controversial "China Initiative".
Olson acknowledges that the Asian-American and academic community's longstanding criticism of the program is justified. They have long argued that the program not only fuels discrimination, but also hurts U.S. efforts to attract top talent and pursue cutting-edge research.
This semester, Chen Gang has returned to teach at MIT, but the damage he has suffered has become irreparable.
"I'm no longer the Same Chen Gang I used to be. From my family, the trauma we've experienced, and the fears we still harbor, to my career. My research group has disappeared. I'm not the same person I used to be. ”
This article is an exclusive manuscript of the Observer Network and may not be reproduced without authorization.