US airports toughen exam of Chinese students

Amid the hot relations between the two countries, the United States began to take a closer look at Chinese international students to prevent technology theft.

When the advertisement for Boston Logan International Airport asked Keith Zhang to come to the check-in counter, he thought it was a regular boarding check.

But when he saw two armed American officers waiting there, his heart skipped a beat.

Keith Zhang, who is not his real name, told the BBC: “I was interrogated on the premise that I was here to steal technology.”

Zhang, a 26-year-old doctoral student from China, was a visiting scholar in the department of psychological science at Brown University for a year.

He did not expect to spend the last two hours on US soil during interrogation because he was suspected of having ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

So what could have happened?

FBI Director Christopher Wray recently said that in response to Beijing’s “extensive campaign” of economic espionage, the FBI opens a new counterespionage case involving China every 10 hours. National.

In July, Washington closed the Chinese consulate in Houston, calling it a “spy center.”

As the United States tightens surveillance of Chinese citizens regarding espionage concerns, reviewing Chinese students and researchers appears to be Washington’s newest measure to combat economic espionage. Some of the international student’s electronic devices were removed for inspection and not returned for several weeks.

Zhang described the test as “pure harassment.”

“If I steal any data or intellectual property, I can send it to cloud storage,” Zhang said. Removing my laptop and phone to check is harassment. nothing more and nothing less “.

China’s Foreign Ministry accused Washington of “abusing” the judiciary to interrogate and arrest Chinese students in the United States “under false charges.”

However, a series of accusations against Chinese investigators show that the suspicions of the US authorities are valid.

In August, Haizhou Hu, a 34-year-old Chinese visiting scholar from the University of Virginia, was arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport while about to catch a flight to China.

The US Department of Justice said “a routine inspection” found that the person’s laptop contained software code related to the investigation that the person was not authorized to possess. According to a federal indictment, the code had military use.

In other cases, the United States recently arrested many Chinese investigators accused of hiding ties to the Chinese military in visa applications. A scientist is believed to have escaped to the Chinese consulate in San Francisco before being arrested. Another Chinese investigator dumped a damaged hard drive and was later charged with destroying evidence to obstruct the FBI investigation.

US Undersecretary of State David Stilwell told the BBC that for students coming to the United States for academic purposes, the doors of the United States are “wide open.”

“But if you’re here disguised as (the student),” he said, “we have to defend ourselves.”

Sheena Greitens, associate professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, says there is “growing concern” about technology transfer from the United States to China through academic channels.

“These are espionage investigations, so it is unlikely that we will see the full details of each case, but it is difficult to make an informed judgment about the nature of the security threat. The country relies on a handful of cases that we have seen that they have been made public to date, “said Professor Greitens.

Unlike Hu, Zhang was allowed to board his flight at the last minute, but said the inspection at the airport was “a traumatic experience.”

He recalled that two armed agents accused him of lying on several occasions. “I was under great pressure and I almost collapsed,” he said.

Zhang did not ask for the names or identities of the officers, nor did he ask to contact a lawyer, Brown University or the Chinese Embassy in the United States.

“I know I have these rights, but I don’t want to miss my flight,” Zhang said.

Boarding a flight was Zhang’s top priority, as he was eager to go home and meet his wife. They were married a year ago, but most of the time they were separated because he studied in the United States.

During the pandemic, it was difficult to travel from the United States to China as both countries reduced international flights. Zhang spent weeks and nearly $ 5,000 buying a plane ticket to transit through Amsterdam to her hometown of Shanghai.

Generally, law enforcement officers in the US must have a warrant to search electronic equipment, but airports are the exception. US border guards only need “reasonable suspicion” to be able to search a traveler’s electronic device at the airport.

According to the South China Morning Post, US border guards conducted more than 1,100 searches for electronic equipment of Chinese citizens in 2019, up 66% from the previous year.

Prof Greitens said airports are also “bottlenecks for outbound traffic” as this is where the legal, physical and human infrastructure is centralized to serve inspection and serve as a place to go. passengers out of transit to leave the U.S.

John Demers, Assistant Attorney General of the United States, said recently that the inspection of the airport was “much more intentional than it appears.”

It revealed that the selection decision is based on the students’ schools while in China and their fields of study. Guest scholars in advanced scientific fields and from organizations related to the Chinese military are likely to be the target.

“What we are trying to do is write with a sharp pencil, which is different from writing with a marker,” Demers said at a public event in Washington DC.

Both Hu and Zhang received scholarships from the China Scholarship Council (CSC) for their studies in the United States.

CSC is an organization under the Ministry of Education of China, which provides financial support for educational exchanges between China and other countries.

According to a recent study by Georgetown University, CSC sponsors some 65,000 Chinese international students, representing 7% of Chinese citizens studying abroad. The organization also sponsors the same number of foreign students in China.

During his exchange studies in the US, Zhang received a monthly stipend of $ 1,900 from CSC. You must also submit a research report every six months, and your collaborator at Brown University will read and sign it.

China’s higher education and research systems are mostly state-owned. Although not all researchers are members of the Communist Party of China, it can influence research activity.

The Chinese Communist Party has installed representatives and indexers in educational institutions, and some universities have even modified their rules to emphasize loyalty to the party.

At the airport, Zhang told US law enforcement officials that the Chinese Communist Party had no direct influence on his research on cognitive psychology, which was “very theoretical.” But officials did not appear convinced by the government-funded research program.

“It is normal for governments to fund scientific research. The United States also funds universities and public laboratories. There is no way for me to convince them, from my point of view,” Zhang said. them, government funding means that the Communist Party influences every research project. “

CSC is currently under strict scrutiny in the US, as it is seen as a path in which Beijing can influence international students.

On August 31, the University of North Texas ended its exchange program with 15 Chinese researchers funded by CSC, which meant that their US visas were revoked. This appears to be the first case in which an American university breaks its ties with CSC.

Professor Greitens believes that surveillance of some Chinese citizens studying science and technology in the United States, especially those funded by the Chinese government, will continue regardless of the outcome of the American elections. Come on.

“Both administrations (Trump and Biden) are likely to be very concerned about the potential threat of illegal technology transfer between the United States and China,” he said.

Despite being impressed by the seriousness of studying in the US and enjoying working with colleagues at Brown University, Zhang said he would not consider returning to the country again after going through the test. look up.

“It was very scary. I felt like my safety could be compromised at any moment,” he said.

Concerned about the bleak outlook for US-China relations, Zhang has begun to pressure his Chinese friends in the United States to consider returning home.

“The new Cold War has begun. The situation is irreversible, no matter who will be the next president of the United States,” he said.