Following a U.S. court acquittal, Chinese scholar Hu Anming reinstated tenure 01 charges were dismissed as many as 02 for excessive targeting of Chinese scientists

Hu Anming, a former associate professor at the University of Tennessee, is the first Chinese-American scientist to appear in court since the implementation of the U.S. Department of Justice's "China Action Plan," and last month the U.S. court acquitted him | Image source: IVY YANG

Introduction

A month after a U.S. court acquitted Chinese-American scientist Hu Anming, Mr. Juanming's former employer, the University of Tennessee, said it would reinstate Mr. Hu from his tenured faculty and provide $200,000 over three years to help him restart research.

Written by | Zhongyingjie

Responsible editor| Chen Xiaoxue

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According to the US media Knox News, on October 14, local time, the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK) decided to reinstate its former employee Hu Anming from his tenured teaching position, pay unpaid wages and legal fees, and provide $200,000 within 3 years to help him restart his research work [1]. The news was reported by the Associated Press, the South China Morning Post, Science and other media [2-5].

In a letter obtained by the Knoxville News Sentinel on the 14th, John Zomchick, provost and senior vice president of the University of Tennessee, said that the school will resume Juanming's tenured professorship, payIng Juanming's arrears of wages (excluding remuneration from dismissal to reinstatement) and paying for immigration lawyers, and Juanming will receive $200,000 in research grants within 3 years. The letter also explains the work done by the University of Tennessee to support Professor Hu's work visa [1].

This is the latest response from the University of Tennessee after Hu Anming's acquittal in early September.

Earlier, Steven Pei, a professor at the University of Houston and co-organizer of the APA Justice Task Force, urged the University of Tennessee to reinstate Juanming on social media on October 13. He also revealed that the deadline for the U.S. government to appeal the Juanming case is October 12, which has passed, while NASA has restored Juanming's normal application and funding qualifications on October 10. [6]

"The University of Tennessee's decision to reinstate Juanming from his post is a good start, but they need to do more to make up for the damage done to Dr. Hu and his family, as well as its credibility as a public institution." Vincent Wang, president of the Russian Association of Chinese (OCAA), said on his personal social platform [7]. Wang Wenkui and Bai Xianshen sent a letter to the judge who presided over Hu Anming's case, calling on the judge to dismiss the U.S. Department of Justice's indictment of Hu Anding and find him not guilty.

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="25" >01 The charges were dismissed</h1>

Chinese Canadian scholar Anming Hu is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Tennessee and an expert in the field of high-temperature brazing of nanomaterials. In February 2020, he was charged with "concealing ties to Chinese universities" when applying for NASA grants, and the FBI arrested him on charges of wire fraud and misrepresentation. Subsequently, Juanming was fired from the University of Tennessee on the grounds that his work visa had expired.

Hu anming refused to plead guilty, and the case subsequently went to trial.

In June, after two days of deliberations, the jury could not agree on whether Hu Anming's three counts of telecommunications fraud and three false statements were convicted, and the judge announced that the trial was indicted.

After the first-instance appeal, U.S. prosecutors applied for a retrial of the case, but on September 9, a local judge dismissed all charges and acquitted Mr. Hu.

According to the judge's memorandum opinion and order, Hu Anming worked at UTK from November 2013 to the end of February 2020 (before being fired), and even though there may have been omissions or flaws in handling the part-time relationship at Beijing University of Technology, it does not prove "intentional deception of NASA". [8]

Gibson, an agent in NASA's Office of Inspector General, testified that the NASA grants that the defendant (Juan ming) helped obtain flowed to UTK and that the defendant "did not steal money from NASA." "NASA got what they thought was a deal," specifically, NASA "got their research," and "the technical reviewers were happy with it." In addition, Gibson testified that he had no evidence that the defendant "brought the money to China." [8]

Finally, the judge ruled that even if all the evidence were viewed in the best interests of the plaintiff (the U.S. Department of Justice), no assertion could be made that "the defendant concealed its connection to a Chinese university in order to defraud NASA funding." All charges against Hu Anming were not convicted [8].

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="78" >02 is over-targeted at Chinese scientists</h1>

The Hu case is a microcosm of the Chinese-American scholars affected by the China Initiative since its launch in November 2018. The purpose of the China Action Plan is to "combat trade secret theft/economic espionage that endangers national security", and dozens of Chinese Americans have been prosecuted so far, and there is no shortage of accomplished [9]. A significant number of these scholars have been accused of acts that are far removed from the so-called "espionage crimes."

In july, the case of Wang Qing, a former employee of the Cleveland Clinic, and five academics accused of concealing ties with the Chinese military... These "unjust, false and wrongly decided cases" containing the crime of "fraud" all confirm the fact that some Chinese scholars have been targeted [10].

On September 8, before Mr. Hu's acquittal, 177 Stanford faculty members wrote a joint letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland criticizing the following fundamental flaws in the China Action Plan:

1

Excessive targeting of Chinese scientists. "In many cases, the federal government's response seems disproportionate or appropriate. In some cases, federal agencies linked to the China Action Plan have prosecuted researchers without conclusive evidence... They are locked, investigated, and threatened in interrogations initiated without prior evidence of material misconduct. Universities and research institutes are often forced to investigate researchers who have been singled out simply because they have personal or professional ties to China. ”

2

In most of the cases covered by the action plan, the alleged crimes were not related to scientific espionage or intellectual property theft. Most of the prosecutions are against misconduct, such as failure to disclose foreign appointments or funds. While these issues should be addressed, they should not be confused with national security issues.

3

Seriously damage the attractiveness of good people.

As the Open Letter from Stanford faculty put it, the China Action Plan prosecutes most of the cases against misconduct that can hardly rise to the level of "national security issues." Terminating the action plan and avoiding racial characterization is the right way to maintain academic innovation capabilities. [11]

bibliography:

[1]https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/education/2021/10/16/university-tennessee-offers-reinstate-professor-anming-hu-falsely-accused-espionage/8470444002/

[2]https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-education-arrests-tennessee-51e167f211f59ae991ca24119d94f8a4

[3]https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3152638/professor-was-cleared-hiding-ties-china-us-university-wants-him

[4]https://www.science.org/content/article/university-offers-rehire-professor-acquitted-hiding-china-ties

[5]https://www.apajustice.org/anming-hu.html

[6]https://twitter.com/StevenPei5/status/1448305994023546884

[7]https://twitter.com/iVincentWang/status/1450435265571524610

[8]https://bit.ly/38RTaXp

[9]https://www.justice.gov/nsd/information-about-department-justice-s-china-initiative-and-compilation-china-related

[10]https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/sRia3cc2kgA1oKYb7EVtGg

[11]https://www.reuters.com/world/us/stanford-professors-urge-us-end-program-looking-chinese-spies-academia-2021-09-13/