In March, a former West Virginia University professor pleaded guilty to fraud charges in connection with working for China’s Thousand Talents Program. In January, Charles Lieber, a prominent Harvard University professor, was arrested on charges of lying about receiving research funding from the Chinese government. The investigations are time-consuming – sometimes they can take years – but they've led to notable prosecutions in recent months. technology involving every sector of the U.S. In February, FBI Director Christopher Wray said his agency was conducting about 1,000 investigations into suspected Chinese theft of U.S. Since then the department has announced charges in nearly 24 economic espionage and intellectual property theft cases.įILE - FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, Feb. In 2018, the department launched a "China Initiative" with the aim of prioritizing Chinese espionage cases. Under the Trump administration, the Justice Department has increased its focus on combating Chinese economic espionage. “They successfully recruit a fair number of laypeople, academics, professors or students who might not start out necessarily working for the Chinese government, but are eventually recruited and encouraged and incentivized to become a conduit,” Chan said. economy hundreds of billions of dollars annually, and China is “the world’s principal IP infringer.”Ĭhan said China’s use of nontraditional actors such as students and scholars makes it particularly challenging for law enforcement to combat theft of trade secrets. “One of the ways in which China historically has sought to obtain intellectual property from the United States is through academic research institutions,” Chan said.Īccording to the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property, intellectual property theft costs the U.S. law enforcement agencies’ growing focus on academia as a target of Chinese intellectual property theft. is continuing to monitor this kind of activity," said Paul Chan, the managing principal at the Bird Marella law firm in Los Angeles.Ĭhan said the three cases underscore U.S.
"We're hearing about some of these more high-profile investigations, mainly for the deterrent value so that China and Chinese state actors are aware that the U.S. The clinic said it had fired the professor. Qing Wang, a former researcher at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic, was arrested on fraud charges for failing to disclose in a $3.6 million grant application to the National Institutes of Health that he received money for conducting similar research in China. Xiao-Jiang Li, a former professor at Emory University, was sentenced to one year of probation in connection with his work with the Thousand Talents Program, which he hid from the federal government. The university suspended Ang after his arrest.Īlso last Friday, Dr. Last Friday, Simon Saw-Teong Ang, an electrical engineering professor at the University of Arkansas, was arrested for failing to disclose his ties to the Chinese government and Chinese businesses in a grant application to NASA. While the three cases announced this week do not allege outright intellectual property theft, they involve researchers at American institutions who hid their work for the Chinese, raising the risk of unauthorized intellectual property transfer. says the programs have a nefarious purpose: stealing U.S. and other foreign academics and researchers to work in China.Ĭhinese officials have made no secret about what they aim to accomplish through these programs: access to critical intellectual property. The Thousand Talents Program is the best known of more than 200 Chinese recruitment plans that target U.S. “The Department of Justice remains vigilant over programs such as the Thousand Talents Program that recruits professors and researchers to work for China,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C.
Demers speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, Nov. FILE - Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C.
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