Congress is trying to pass H.R.1398: Protect America’s Innovation and Economic Security from CCP Act of 2024 that will revive the New Chinese Exclusion Act that racially profiles researchers of Chinese heritage for being "Chinese spies." Tell the Committee on the Judiciary to vote NO on this racist legislation!
I am writing in regards to H.R.1398: Protect America’s Innovation and Economic Security from CCP Act of 2024 with the request that you vote NO on reviving the Justice Department’s “China Initiative” under the new name “CCP Initiative.” The legislation is a form of institutionalized racism that specifically targets individuals working in science and academia for being “Chinese spies.”
The China Initiative was created under the Trump administration in 2018. In the following few years, the Department of Justice led a massive counter-espionage operation that persecuted “perceived Chinese spies” across the US. The methodology upheld was “guilty under prove innocent,” which led to a melding of nationality with ethnicity, contributing to a chilling perception bias within research institutions, dividing workplaces and making it more difficult for Asian Americans to get hired.
The initiative was racist, dystopian, and dangerous. Nobody in the AAPI community was safe, and some members of Congress have already voiced their opposition. Congressman Jerry Nadler commented, “If you were a person of Chinese descent working in American higher education, you were a suspect.” Representative Judy Chu described the legislation as a “new McCarthyism” that “cast a chilling effect on our academic community.”
Over the course of the China Initiative, more than 250 researchers of Asian descent lost their jobs. However, only three of the 250 were ever convicted, revealing that most investigations were paranoid fabrications.
The initiative ruined more than just careers. For Chinese American Jane Wu, it cost her life. Wu was a prominent neuroscientist at Northwestern University, known for her work in molecular biology and studies of neurodegenerative diseases. She took her own life in July 2024 after US investigations attempting to link her to China ruined her career, and led to the closing of her lab. Her death was felt deeply across the scientific community and marked the tragic human costs of such investigations.
This Mcarthyist legislation is not only a danger to academics, but it also hinders US progress in science and technology. A recent survey of over 1300 academics of Chinese heritage revealed that over one third feel unwelcome in the US, and 72% feel unsafe. 61% have considered leaving the US, and 86% say it is harder to recruit top international students than it was five years ago. Another survey showed that 68% of Chinese students were scared of being racially profiled. US research has historically relied on foreign minds, and ties to scientific collaborations with China go back to 1979, when the US-China Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement was first signed. The agreement was renewed every five years until 2018. To lose thousands of brilliant researchers due to racist legislation would be extremely damaging to progress in science and technology.
I urge you to vote NO on H.R.1398: Protect America’s Innovation and Economic Security from CCP Act of 2024. The anti-China politicization of science and technology in the US has led to policies that are systematically racist. The new CCP Initiative will only lead to discriminatory investigations, increased Asian American hate, and the ruining of lives.
For peace and truth,