ABOVE: © ISTOCK.COM, KRBLOKHIN
As the United States government’s efforts to curb China’s attempts at economic espionage have ramped up in recent years, so have concerns that these investigations are unfairly targeting individuals of Chinese descent. The case against Franklin (Feng) Tao, a professor of chemical engineering at Kansas University, has been criticized by organizations who say this is the latest in a series of government inquiries that involve racial profiling.
Tao was indicted last August on federal charges brought against him for allegedly hiding a relationship with Fuzhou University in China while being employed at the University of Kansas (KU) and thus unlawfully receiving US government funding. According to the indictment, Tao signed a contract with Fuzhou under a Chinese government–sponsored talent program known as the Changjiang Professorship—which posed a conflict of interest to his position at KU—but failed to report this to the university. His lawyers counter that ...
