The U.S. Crackdown on Chinese American Researchers Endangers the Future of Science
Ethnically Chinese scientists are fighting a long history of U.S. persecution
Shortly after dawn on May 21, 2015, FBI agents came to physicist Xiaoxing Xi’s front door with guns drawn and a battering ram for backup. They arrested him on charges of wire fraud and released him only after he put his house up as collateral against a $100,000 bond.
Xi, who lived in a quiet suburb of Philadelphia, attracted attention as a world-renowned expert in thin films, substances used for building superconductors. The 57-year-old had just been named interim chair of Temple University’s physics department. He was the principal or co-principal investigator on nine federally funded research projects on thin films, had grants totaling over $1 million per year, and led a team of 14 researchers.
The professor was charged with four counts of wire fraud by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly sharing confidential scientific information with Chinese entities — specifically, illegally sharing the proprietary blueprints of a pocket heater device, citing four emails he sent to Chinese scientists in 2010 as evidence. According to the federal indictment, Xi’s emails had suggested collaborating on research in exchange for…
