Foreign Researchers Accused of Hiding Links to Chinese Military

Four Chinese nationals have been charged with visa fraud after revelations that they sent information on the layout of US labs and research carried out by colleagues back to China.

Written byAmanda Heidt

| 3 min read

Save for Later

DOJ, Department of Justice, FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, China, intellectual property, visa fraud, People's Liberation Army

Listen with Speechify

0:00

3:00

ABOVE: © ISTOCK.COM, DORADALTON

Update (July 27): Juan Tang has since been taken into custody by the US Marshals Service and will be appearing in court today to face charges of alleged visa fraud, the Associated Press reports.

Three Chinese nationals working in research laboratories in California and Indiana have been arrested and charged with lying about their affiliations to the Chinese military, while a fourth person has sought refuge inside the Chinese consulate in San Francisco in an attempt to avoid arrest.

Kaikai Zhao, a graduate student at Indiana University studying artificial intelligence; Juan Tang, a visiting cancer researcher at the University of California (UC), Davis; Xin Wang, a visiting researcher at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF); and Chen Song, a visiting neurologist at Stanford University, are all alleged to have supplied false information when applying for visas to travel to the US for work. Zhao and ...

Interested in reading more?

The Scientist ARCHIVES

Become a Member of

Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!

Join for free today

Already a member?

Add The Scientist as a preferred Google source to see more of our trusted coverage.

Meet the Author

Amanda Heidt
Go to The Scientist's LinkedIn Page
Amanda first began dabbling in scicom as a master’s student studying marine science at Moss Landing Marine Labs, where she edited the student blog and interned at a local NPR station. She enjoyed that process of demystifying science so much that after receiving her degree in 2019, she went straight into a second master’s program in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Formerly an intern at The Scientist, Amanda joined the team as a staff reporter and editor in 2021 and oversaw the publication’s internship program, assigned and edited the Foundations, Scientist to Watch, and Short Lit columns, and contributed original reporting across the publication. Amanda’s stories often focus on issues of equity and representation in academia, and she brings this same commitment to DEI to the Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains and to the board of the National Association of Science Writers, which she has served on since 2022. She is currently based in the outdoor playground that is Moab, Utah. Read more of her work at www.amandaheidt.com.
View Full Profile