Xi Jinping’s ambitious plan to establish China as the world’s preeminent power in science has recently met with a series of catastrophic setbacks in the US. Since the Trump administration stepped up its effort in combating academic espionage in 2018, a number of high-profile cases involving scientists with ties to Chinese academic institutions have come to light. Charges brought against these scientists include smuggling proprietary technologies from their US labs to China, making false statements and wire fraud.

The Scientist-Spy

Indicted scientists generally fall into one of the three categories. The first one involves young scientists on F (student) or J (exchange visitor) visas working under the mentorship of their research advisors. In January 2020, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Ye Yanqing, a Boston University student who allegedly collected US military information for her alma mater, the National University of Defense Technology in Changsha, while concealing her identity as a lieutenant of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Another Chinese researcher, Zheng Zaosong, was arrested in December 2019 for stealing vials of cancer cells from a Harvard lab and attempting to board a flight bound to China. The second group belongs to a circle of elite Chinese scientists holding faculty appointments as well as US citizenship. These scientists often ran their own research programs funded by the US government and concurrently engaged in replicating their research programs in China without informing their US employers. Many of these scientists are also elected members of the ill-fated Thousand Talents Plan (TTP), a state-run recruitment program targeting overseas talents of strategic value to China’s innovation ecosystem. Examples in this category include Wang Qing, a professor at Case Western Reserve University while serving as Dean for the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Tao Feng, an associate professor at the University of Kansas while working full-time at Fuzhou University. As to the last category, it consists of non-Chinese scientists like Charlie Lieber, who headed Harvard's Chemistry department prior to his arrest in January 2020. Allegations against Dr. Lieber included failure to disclose a concealed agreement with Wuhan University of Technology, where he was appointed to establish a lab on a lucrative package.

At the very least, these talented scientists violate the very basic moral code of academia. In a way, they are also victims caught in the middle of China’s aggressive espionage scheme. Central to this scheme are concerted efforts orchestrated by various central government agencies including the PLA and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). In the name of science, these agencies recruit, fund and manage “foreign agents” who steal the fruits of years of research funded by US taxpayers. Ironically, the very same agencies that sponsor academic espionage abroad also support domestic research and promote cross-border collaboration. Many scientists based in Hong Kong take pride in receiving grants from MOST through its National Key Research and Development Programs.

Counter Measures

Lawmakers from around the world should place sanctions against government agencies and academic institutions sponsoring academic espionage. Scientists, particularly whose works are funded by any of the central government agencies, should be vigilant when it comes to working with research materials of questionable origin, or they risk tarnishing their hard-earned reputation. For all practical purposes, the Cold War has already begun in the academic community. Recognizing the imminent threat of academic espionage, Donald Trump ordered some 3,000 Chinese students and scholars to leave the country on short notice for their ties with seven PLA-affiliated universities. At major US research centers, administrators are urged to look for any irregularities that warrant further investigations into possible cases of intellectual property theft. Prestigious science and engineering schools like MIT and Stanford have drastically cut their number of offers extended to mainland Chinese applicants. TTP membership is now being seen more as a red flag than a badge of excellence. More counterintelligence measures need to be taken not only to safeguard economic interests, but also restore academic integrity that has already been compromised.

(Dr Jack Kwan is a Boston based scientific consultant, he received his PhD at MIT.)

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