Scholar recounts ordeal by 'initiative' targeting China

Chinese-Canadian scientist Anming Hu often questioned his decision to leave Canada and move to the United States.

"Devoting my life to scientific research in this country is the very dark time of my life," he said.

Hu was a tenured professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, until he was arrested in February 2020 for allegedly hiding ties to a Chinese university while receiving a federal grant.

Though he was eventually acquitted in September, "the prosecution destroyed my career, my reputation, ruined my life and the life of my family", said Hu, recounting his ordeal at a recent webinar hosted by the Asian American Scholar Forum.

After receiving two doctoral degrees in physics, Hu moved to the US from Canada in 2013 and became a professor in the department of mechanical, aerospace and biomedical engineering at UTK.

"On Feb 27, 2020, I was waked by the heavy knocking on my door. Still in my pajamas, I opened the door and eight FBI agents burst into my house and arrested me," Hu recalled. He was charged with wire fraud and making a false statement.

"At that time, I couldn't understand what happened and thought there must have been a mistake. But within the same day, I was put into jail and was asked by my university to resign from my tenured position within 48 hours," he said.

"Within hours of my arrest, I had lost the career I worked all my life to build. The university suspended me without pay and later terminated my tenure."

Hu stood trial in June, the first among a series of similar prosecutions under the so-called China Initiative launched by the administration of Donald Trump in November 2018 to combat alleged economic espionage.

As the jury could not reach a verdict, the Justice Department announced in July that it would seek a retrial, despite calls from academic and civil rights groups to drop the case.

In September, US District Court Judge Thomas Varlan acquitted Hu of all charges, saying "no rational jury could conclude that defendant acted with a scheme to defraud NASA".

Though the case has ended, the pain still continues. "Since I was arrested, I have been struggling with my physical and mental health," Hu said.

Wendy Chandler, a juror at Hu's trial, said the thing she felt most about the prosecution was "anger".She was one of only two jurors who refused to convict Hu. The 12 jurors were all white and two-thirds of them were men.

"It was so close. Dr Hu was so close to being found guilty," Chandler said. She recalled the situation in the jury room was "scary" and "awful". "It so easily could have gone a different way, and that's what made me so angry," she said.

Like a jail cell

The prosecution, job loss and separation from family have affected Hu's physical and mental health.

"I have Type 2 diabetes, and I need regular medical care. But for a long time, I was not allowed to see a doctor or even to go to the deck of my own house to get the fresh air. I was treated like a prisoner, and my house was just like a jail cell," he said.

Hu and his son, who attended UTK at that time, were put under FBI surveillance for 21 months. The agency also added Hu to a no-fly list and seized his computer and phone. But there was no evidence found from the surveillance.

"The damage has not stopped. It still continues for me and my family, especially my kids," Hu said. "My daughter was only 5 years old when I was arrested, and now I haven't seen her in nearly two years." His family went back to Canada, and the US-Canada border closed when the COVID-19 pandemic started.

Now, Hu is still fighting for his immigration and work eligibility in the US. The university offered to reinstate his tenured faculty position in October, but the federal government revoked his work visa when the university suspended him without pay.