House Passes Bill Reviving "China Initiative" Despite Opposition from Asian American Lawmakers

WASHINGTON – Despite strong opposition from the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, House passed a bill that would reinstate the "China Initiative" within the Department of Justice. This move could have negative repercussions for Asian American scientists as a whole.

Launched in 2018 under the Trump administration, the “China Initiative” sought to counter economic espionage by investigating Chinese American researchers for allegedly stealing U.S. technology and intellectual property. While the program was aimed at protecting national security, it disproportionately affected scientists of Chinese heritage, many of whom were later acquitted.

Although the “China Initiative” was officially ended in 2022, it has now been incorporated into the conservative plan of Project 2025. House Republicans pushed a bill to reinstate it under the name "Protect America's Innovation and Economic Security from the CCP." Many House Democrats, particularly those of Asian heritage, along with Asian American civil rights advocates, have raised serious concerns about its potential to undermine racial justice and fairness in federal investigations.

In support of the bill, The Department of Justice reported that roughly 60% of all trade secret misappropriation cases in the U.S. have ties to China. However, according to data from MIT Technology Review, only about a quarter of those charged under the "China Initiative" were convicted. Nearly 90% of the defendants , were of Chinese heritage.

“While we want to stop American secrets from being stolen, investigations on espionage should be based on evidence of criminal activity, not on race or ethnic background,” said Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) Chair, in front of Capitol Hill during a press conference Tuesday.

Chu said that the initiative wrecked the lives and careers of those wrongfully accused, with more than two-thirds of cases dismissed due to paperwork errors, not espionage. The fallout from these accusations, she noted, has been devastating not only for those targeted but also for their families.

Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), the CAPAC Second Vice-Chair, is the son and grandson of Japanese Americans who were incarcerated in camps during World War II. Drawing on his family’s painful experience with policies that targeted and discriminated against people solely based on their ancestry, Takano urged his colleagues to oppose the reinstatement of the "China Initiative." He described the program as "ineffective, counterproductive, and downright un-American."

Rep. Mark Takano(D-CA) condemned the "China Initiative" ahead of the floor vote. Photo by: Pingping Yin

Gang Chen, a Chinese-born American mechanical engineer and a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, recounted his harrowing experience of being wrongfully targeted under the initiative. In January 2021, Chen was arrested by the FBI and charged with failing to disclose alleged connections to Chinese educational programs when applying for a U.S. Department of Energy grant. He spent months under investigation, facing the possibility of prison time, only for the charges to be dropped a year later.

“I’m a proud immigrant,” Chen said, “I have devoted my life to this country, educating the next generation of young leaders.”

As a head of MIT Mechanical Engineering Department, Chen supervised over 100 students and postdocs, where many of them landed in other top universities such as UC Berkeley and Caltech as professors. All his work had to be suspended during the investigation.

Despite his acquittal, Chen said that his credit card was canceled multiple times even after his case was dropped, and his research came to a halt, as he was no longer able to receive funding for his work. The emotional toll extended to his family, with his wife suffering from recurring nightmares of the FBI arresting him again.

“Please! Do not bring back the ‘China Initiative,’” Chen implored to the crowd in front of Capitol Hill Tuesday. “Please! Do not let what happened to me be repeated.”

Franklin Tao was the first academic scientist prosecuted under “China Initiative”. Before the procecution, he had published nearly 100 studies in energy chemistry and heterogeneous catalysis, with his work being cited by over 10,000 researchers and organizations. He was also honored by the University of Kansas as a “Miller Scholar” in 2017.

Franklin Tao was the first academic scientist prosecuted under the "China Initiative." He shared his traumatic experience with the public in front of Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Photo by: Pingping Yin

Charged in 2019 for allegedly failing to disclose a conflict of interest with a Chinese university, Tao spent over five years under prosecution before his case was dismissed in July. While he was cleared of espionage-related charges, the long legal battle upended his life.

Tao lost his tenure and described his career, built over two decades of hard work, as destroyed. The trial cost him more than $2.3 million, leaving him and his family in over $1 million of debt.

“We cross the ocean to come to this land. We work hard here,” Tao said. “Driving us away from the land which we have contributed for decades is not going to benefit America.”

Asian American civil rights advocates said that the chilling effect these court cases have on U.S. research and its competitiveness outweighs any potential national security benefits. The legal processes for scholars who were arrested and later had their charges dismissed were prolonged and traumatic.

Gisela Perez Kusakawa, executive director of the Asian American Scholar Forum, stressed the need for the Asian American community to fight against harmful stereotypes that cast them as “perpetual foreigners and scapegoats.” She expressed concern about the future of the community amid heightened racial tension and national security anxieties.

“It can’t be the reality,” Kusakawa warned.

In the face of criticism from CAPAC and the Asian American community, House lawmakers voted 237-180 on Wednesday to advance the bill, which would effectively revive the DOJ's now-defunct "China Initiative".

The bill’s passage has left many in the Asian American community concerned about its broader impact. “The most important thing is that the families won’t have the opportunity to move forward with their lives,” Kusakawa said.

Following the vote, Chu strongly condemned the passage of the bill. She likened it to a return to the discriminatory practices of the past.

“This McCarthy-esque witch hunt, carried out by our own government, irreversibly ruined so many lives and careers while casting a chilling effect on our academic community that continues to damage our country’s global competitive edge and ability to stay on the cutting edge of scientific advancements,” wrote Chu in a statement released the same day when the bill was passed.