Axed China Initiative’s racial profiling legacy haunts scientists in US
- Controversial policy targeting academics of Chinese heritage was shut down last year but those affected say the scrutiny has never stopped
- Studies confirm that many still feel under suspicion, with fear and anxiety hampering their research, while some are returning to China
The charges against Xi – who was accused of trying to transfer information to China about the design of a pocket heater – were dropped four months later, but not before he lost his position as chairman of the physics department at the Philadelphia-based Temple University.
During the FBI’s investigation, Xi was also not allowed to appear on campus, apply for research grants or talk to his students, even privately.
“That’s a very traumatic experience,” Xi said. “Normally as a scientist, one would not expect such things to happen, so it was very shocking and there was no sign anything like that was about to happen. It was a very dramatic experience.”
Xi said the US government’s case was based on four emails sent from his Temple University address that had nothing to do with the pocket heater.
