Republican lawmakers try to restart investigation of China ties
Congressional Republicans are trying to revive the China Initiative, the federal-government investigation of academic and economic ties with China that cast a pall over international research collaborations.
The House Appropriations Committee has included language reinstating the inquiry in a bill that would fund the U.S. Department of Justice and several other federal agencies for the 2024 fiscal year. In an explanatory document for the spending bill posted online, the committee called the Justice Department’s February 2022 decision to shut down the China Initiative “unwise” and “deeply irresponsible.”
The “decision is an example of weakness from a Justice Department more concerned with being politically correct than protecting Americans, and stands in stark contrast to the actions of other federal agencies that have taken steps in recognition of the extraordinary long-term threat China poses to the United States,” the document stated. It directed the department to “re-establish an office dedicated to countering espionage and influence efforts against American businesses, research institutions, and academia emanating from” the Chinese government.
The controversial probe, begun in 2018 under President Donald J. Trump, put joint research and other academic collaboration with Chinese scientists and universities under a microscope. Officials argued that the scrutiny was warranted because of the potential for a geopolitical rival to steal scientific secrets or other intellectual property.
Despite its high profile, the investigation resulted in few convictions. (A notable exception was Charles M. Lieber, a former chairman of Harvard University’s chemistry department, who was found guilty of lying to the U.S. government.)
Nonetheless, the inquiry had far-reaching consequences for colleges, for science, and, most especially, for researchers of Chinese and Asian descent. Joint publications by Chinese and American scientists have declined since the beginning of the China Initiative. Some researchers pulled back from working with Chinese colleagues and declined to apply for federal grants, worried that they could fall under suspicion.
In announcing an official end to the China Initiative, Matthew Olsen, assistant attorney general for national security, said the investigation had “fueled a narrative of intolerance and bias.”
Advocacy groups expressed alarm at efforts to bring back the China Initiative. Gisela Perez Kusakawa, executive director of Asian American Scholar Forum, said reinstating the inquiry would be “one significant step back, reversing the progress we have made, not only for the Asian American community, but for our country as a whole.” She noted that the investigation had led to civil-rights concerns and risked undermining American scientific leadership.
“We call on our government to live up to our American values and adhere to the principles of inclusion, diversity, and equity that have helped our country become a beacon for freedom and a global leader in science and technology,” Kusakawa said.
On X, Divyansh Kaushik, associate director for emerging technologies and national security at the Federation of American Scientists, said that the Republican proposal ignores the fact that the federal government has continued to look into allegations of foreign interference and research-security violations on college campuses. “The problem,” he wrote, was that the House legislation “would actually reduce the scope of current investigations by only looking at China and ignore Russia, Iran, North Korea, and other adversaries.”
Even if the Justice Department spending measure passes the House, the China Initiative provision could still face an uphill climb to become law. The Senate, where Democrats are in the majority, would also need to approve the bill, and leaders in that chamber have criticized other House appropriations bills as overly partisan.
Meanwhile, a pair of House committee chairmen announced they would investigate the National Science Foundation’s research-security practices. In a letter to Sethuraman Panchanathan, the science agency’s director, Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican who chairs the oversight committee, and Rep. Frank Lucas, a Oklahoma Republican who chairs the science committee, questioned whether American universities and laboratories are vulnerable to “undisclosed and illegal transfers of information, technology, and intellectual property.”
“These institutions should study science in a transparent manner that encourages collaboration, attracts the top scientific minds to the United States, and fosters discoveries,” Lucas and Comer wrote. “However, a priority of any research-security policy should be to prevent U.S.-funded research from being stolen. We must do all we can to protect our innovation system and taxpayer-funded research from systematic attempts to exploit, degrade, and misappropriate our open system of science.”
For more background, I talked earlier this year with the NSF’s chief of research-security strategy and policy about steps the agency was taking to protect research while continuing to encourage international academic collaboration.
