Chinese Americans Uneasy As Tensions Disturb Research Government Concerns About Foreign Influence Also Pose Difficulties for Academia at Large

Home , Chinese Americans

NEWS IN FOCUS GEOLOGY Japanese drill ship BIOLOGY Gene edits might BLOOD Vast quantities of VENUS Space agencies can fails to reach the have shortened CRISPR blood stem cells made in no longer resist the pull quake-generating zone p.15 babies’ lives p.16 the lab p.17 of Earth’s evil twin p.20 AURORA FIERRO/COVER/GETTY AURORA

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has investigated, and moved to dismiss, ethnically Chinese scientists.

GEOPOLITICS Chinese Americans uneasy as tensions disturb research Government concerns about foreign influence also pose difficulties for academia at large.

BY JEFF TOLLEFSON government agency involved denies this, as changes in the populations that we have does one of the research institutions. on our campuses,” says Wayne Mowery, an crackdown on foreign influence being And the broader crackdown, which export-compliance officer at Pennsylvania carried out by the US government is includes reduced access to visas and tougher State University in State College and chair of taking a toll on Chinese American export controls, leaves research institutions the Association of University Export Control Aresearchers and US academia at large, accord- struggling to balance legitimate government Officers. ing to academics and legal experts. concerns with academic openness, according Government-instigated investigations that to associations that represent academics. RULE BREACHES have led US research institutions to seek the Some fear that the rising tensions could Simmering political tensions between the dismissal of at least five ethnically Chinese lead to an exodus of researchers with Chinese United States and China, including an esca- scientists are fuelling fears that such research- backgrounds from US institutions. lating trade war, are increasingly affecting ers are being unfairly targeted, although the “If this continues, we’re going to see research. Last August, the director of the

NEWS IN FOCUS

US National Institutes of Health (NIH), going on or not, but there is concern,” says its employees and grant recipients to partici- Francis Collins, sent letters to more than Steven Pei, a physicist at the University of Hou- pate in talent-recruitment programmes run 10,000 US institutions raising concerns about ston and former chair of the advocacy group by “sensitive” countries, a ban assumed to “some foreign entities” interfering in the fund- United Chinese Americans in Washington DC. apply to the Chinese government’s Thousand ing, research and peer review of NIH-sup- One scientist at MD Anderson, who was Talents Plan — which brings leading academ- ported projects. In April this year, Collins said born in China and is now a US citizen, says: ics back to China. In June 2018, the US state that investigations into researchers at dozens “I definitely feel the pressure of the racial pro- department limited visas for Chinese gradu- of institutions had uncovered breaches of the filing.” The scientist, who asked to remain ate students in robotics, aviation and high-tech agency’s rules. anonymous for fear of retaliation, adds: “I’ve manufacturing to one year, rather than five. A week later, it emerged that, after receiving got a few other offers, and will very likely leave The Department of Defense and the National letters from the NIH, the University of Texas very soon.” Science Foundation are also evaluating their MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston had Both MD Anderson and the NIH are policies. moved to dismiss three researchers, all ethni- adamant that the crackdown does not amount Such changes are creating a new landscape for cally Chinese, two of whom chose to resign to racial profiling. ethnically Chinese researchers, says Frank Wu, instead. The scientists were accused of breach- MD Anderson presi- “I definitely feel a law professor at the University of California, ing confidentiality, including by sharing grant dent Peter Pisters the pressure Hastings, and a member of the Committee of proposals that they were reviewing, and by fail- points out that only of the racial 100, a group of prominent Chinese Americans ing to disclose foreign funding and affiliations a tiny proportion of profiling.” that works to advance US–China relations. at institutions abroad. his centre’s staff has Researchers need to understand that behav- Then, last month, Emory University in been investigated. “This is fundamentally iours that were once considered acceptable, Atlanta, Georgia, announced that it had fired about ethics and integrity,” he says. “It’s not or even encouraged — such as participating two faculty members after investigations about ethnicity.” Pisters has agreed to meet in the Thousand Talents programme — are prompted by the NIH. Emory alleges that with Pei and the United Chinese Americans now questioned or banned, he says. Wu and the researchers, whom it did not identify, had this month. others in the Committee of 100 are working failed to properly report foreign funding and And although the NIH acknowledges to advise scientists on how to respond. On “the extent of their work for research institu- that China has been a major focus of its 20 May, the committee co-hosted a seminar in tions and universities in China”. Neuroscientist investigations, it says that it has not singled out San Francisco with the Asia Society of Northern Li Xiao-Jiang has since identified himself and ethnically Chinese researchers, and has looked California, on the rising US–China tensions. Li Shihua, his laboratory co-leader and wife into potential violations involving researchers Some confusion is natural, says Wu, but the — who are both Chinese Americans — as the who are not ethnically Chinese. United States should be engaging with Chinese dismissed scientists and disputed the charges. “We’re focusing on objective behaviours,” Americans, not alienating them. “There are He says he had informed the university of his Michael Lauer, a deputy director at the agency, wrongdoers, and we should go after them,” he work in China. told Nature. “Not all of them involve China, says. “But that can be done without going after and not all of the scientists whom we have dis- everyone with a similar ethnic background.” RACIAL DRAGNET? covered problems with are ethnically Chinese.” The investigations do not focus on espionage In a statement to Nature, Emory Univer- BALANCING ACT involving the Chinese government, and some sity did not comment directly on whether its The tensions also pose a conundrum for fear the crackdown might be creating a dragnet actions amount to racial profiling, but said it research institutions, which must strike a deli- most likely to snag people of Chinese descent is committed “to our vital collaborations with cate balance between addressing legitimate that could amount to racial profiling, the prac- researchers from around the world” and “val- national-security concerns and maintain- tice of targeting people because of their racial ues the international diversity of its students, ing academic openness, says Tobin Smith, or ethnic background. US federal law prohibits faculty, and staff, including those from China”. vice-president for policy at the Association of unequal treatment on the basis of race. The US government crackdown on American Universities in Washington DC. “We don’t have enough information to make researchers goes beyond the NIH. The Depart- Universities must help to ensure the the call on whether there is racial profiling ment of Energy has said it will no longer allow integrity of federally funded research, he says, but he also understands the worries about profiling. US intelligence agencies cite the threat of espionage from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, he says, “but let’s face it, the concerns are being driven by China”.

Mowery says that the US government needs COMMITTEE OF 100 to spell out what is expected of academic institutions when it comes to foreign interference. For instance, the government brought criminal charges against the Chinese telecommunica- tions giant Huawei in January, but has yet to define what this means for universities that have collaborations with the company. Huawei has denied that it poses a security risk. Too often, Mowery and others say, scientists and university administrators are operating under a haze of unclear and often shifting rules and expectations. And the Chinese American community’s concerns about profiling are growing, he says. “We’re aware of their concerns, and we’re also aware of the impact that Frank Wu of the Chinese American group Committee of 100 says academic norms are changing. this could have on our institutions.” ■