Opinion | Loss of top science talent by the United States is a gain for China

The world of science was shocked when US authorities went after one of the greatest research chemists alive – Charles Lieber. Renowned as a leader in nanotechnology and its applications to biology and medicine, he was for a long time one of Harvard’s brightest scientific lights.

He was targeted under the now-defunct China Initiative, which went after science and tech researchers in the US with potentially compromising links to China, but particularly those of Chinese heritage. In the end, it was clear to everyone that the programme was nothing but a witch hunt. Now, at the end of his ordeal, Professor Lieber has told this newspaper that he is thinking of starting a new research career far away from the US.

His arrest in 2020 made headlines around the world. His crimes? Failure to disclose links to research institutions in China, and not paying his taxes for undisclosed payments from China.

Such lack of disclosure was, for a long time, routine among academics until the Donald Trump-era China Initiative. When FBI and Justice Department goons couldn’t find anything compromising on their targets, they resorted to such disclosure oversight to catch dozens of ethnic Chinese scientists with criminal prosecution. Lieber happened to be white but also very famous.

As for the tax evasion, if you read the financial press, every few months, some multimillionaire or billionaire is reportedly caught not paying taxes. Those cases are almost always punished with a fine; jail is rare.

But like other prominent names caught in the legal web, US authorities decided to make an example of Lieber. He fought his case but was ultimately convicted and sentenced. Freed from jail on time served, he is now finishing his home detention and supervision.

One supposes that like salesmen, US prosecutors have quotas to fill, especially under a politically sensitive programme like the China Initiative. Most of the prosecutions ended up having nothing to do with spying.

Hundreds of scientists who had collaborated with institutions in China were put under investigation, their lives and careers turned upside down even if they weren’t charged in the end. Others pleaded guilty just to end the nightmare. Nearly 90 per cent of those charged under the China Initiative were ethnic Chinese, including Chinese-Americans and immigrants from mainland China, Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries, according to a survey by the MIT Technology Review in 2021.

But the persecution may return with Trump’s possible re-election in November, or perhaps the witch hunt never ended. Even though the China Initiative was formally halted by President Joe Biden, ethnic Chinese researchers continue to report harassment.

A late February edition of Nature, one of the world’s premier science publications, ran a news report titled, “Why the US border remains ‘a place of terror’ for Chinese researchers”, along with the summary: “Two years after the end of the controversial China Initiative, academics describe being treated like spies, a loss of talent and a chilling atmosphere that is stifling science.”

It began with an account of how an ethnic Chinese engineer was detained at a stopover in Chicago airport after attending a conference in Canada and was forced to give up passwords to his mobile phone and computer or else have them confiscated. It’s not an uncommon experience for many.

Fear about Trump’s return is heightened by Project 2025, a blueprint written by several former senior Trump officials for the next Republican president, which explicitly recommends “restart the China Initiative”.

Well, the US should deny and persecute its science talent. China will for sure welcome them with the red carpet.