US drops case against MIT scientist suspected of covering up ties with China – 01/20/2022 – World

The U.S. Department of Justice dropped the indictment against the MIT professor on Thursday, saying it was the latest setback to China’s policy of suppressing Chinese influence in U.S. universities, asking for federal funding to cover up its relationship with China and research.

Federal prosecutors in Boston have released new information that addresses doubts about the mistakes made by Professor Gang Sen, a Chinese-born mechanical engineer and nanotechnologist.

The mob was arrested in January 2021 on charges of failing to disclose when he applied for $ 2.7 million in funding for scientific research from the US Department of Energy, which acted as a “foreign expert” for the Chinese government and was part of the consultation. Board of the Shenzhen University of Science and Technology of the South.

The allegation was within the bounds of what became known as the “China Initiative” launched during the administration of then-President Donald Trump to counter suspicions of economic spying and research theft by the Chinese government.

Attorney Rachel Rollins said Thursday that prosecutors have no evidence to support the case at a hearing.

According to the American newspaper The New York Times, Energy Department officials have told lawyers that the company will fund Chen’s research even if it warns of ties with China because it will not change the research.

Robert Fisher, Chen’s lawyer, said the professor “revealed everything he had to reveal and did not lie to the government or anyone else.” More than 200 teachers from the company’s five schools signed a letter of intent with Chen, and the university paid the engineer’s lawyer’s fees.

The “China initiative” specifically targeted university professors. In late 2021, Charles Lieber, 62, one of the country’s most important scientists in the field of nanoscience, was accused of lying about his links to the Chinese government recruitment program. He must appeal.

Critics say, however, that the US government’s initiative has weakened the country’s educational research and targeted Chinese researchers for racial discrimination.

Following more than 2,000 academics calling on Secretary of State Merrick Garland to condemn the context of racial discrimination and intimidation, Lieber’s case is seen as a test of the strength of the judiciary’s allegations.

Although the government won the Harvard case, it lost several cases in state court. Last year, the judiciary dropped seven cases. In September, a University of Tennessee researcher was acquitted of all charges brought by the government, calling one of the jurors ridiculous in one case.

Anming Hu, a professor of nanotechnology at the company, was pursued by FBI agents (US Federal Police) for two years and accused of lying to NASA about his work with the Chinese. When it became clear that the professor was an agent of the Chinese government, the university began collaborating with the government and fired him. According to his defense, he will now get his job back with the destruction of the process.