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FOREIGN STUDENTS FROM CHINA ARE FEELING A CHILL FROM THE UNITED STATES. IN JANUARY, THE CHAIR OF THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE, JIM RISCH, SAID EACH CHINESE STUDENT IN THE U.S. IS AN AGENT OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY, THEN WEST VIRGINIA CONGRESSMAN RILEY MOORE, A REPUBLICAN, INTRODUCED A MEASURE THAT WOULD BAN THE ISSUANCE OF STUDENT VISAS TO SCHOLARS FROM CHINA. IN MAY, SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO ANNOUNCED THE U.S. WOULD MOVE TO, QUOTE, AGGRESSIVELY REVOKE VISAS FOR CHINESE STUDENTS, BUT THIS SUSPICION ISN’T A NEW EXPERIENCE FOR SCHOLARS FROM CHINA. OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT JOEY CHEN BRINGS US A STORY OF A SCIENTIST WHO FOUND HIMSELF THE TARGET OF LAW ENFORCEMENT A DECADE AGO. THERE’S NO SMALL IRONY IN XIAOXING XI’S JOURNEY TO BECOMING A TOP AMERICAN SCIENTIST, WHICH BEGAN IN THE DARKEST DAYS OF CHINA’S CULTURAL REVOLUTION. WHAT DID THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT THINK OF SCHOLARS AND SCIENTISTS? OH, THEY WERE THE ENEMIES. THEY WERE THE BAD ELEMENTS TO BE PUT DOWN. IT WASN’T UNTIL 1989 THAT HE AND HIS WIFE WERE ABLE TO RESETTLE IN AMERICA AS COLLEGE PROFESSORS. SHE, AT PHILADELPHIA’S TEMPLE UNIVERSITY. THIS IS WHERE I WORK AS THE CHAIR OF THE PHYSICS DEPARTMENT. IN 2015. AT THE TIME OF YOUR ARREST, AT THE TIME OF MY ARREST EARLY ONE MORNING IN 2015, SHE SAYS HE WAS AWAKENED BY POUNDING AT HIS FRONT DOOR. I SAW ALL THESE PEOPLE, ARMED AGENTS. ARMED? YES. WEARING WHAT? BULLETPROOF VESTS WITH GUNS. I SAW BY THE DOOR WITH TWO GUYS WITH A BATTERING RAM. XIAOXING. SHE WAS CHARGED WITH ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE. HE FACED UP TO 80 YEARS IN PRISON AND A $1 MILLION FINE. HE DENIED THE ALLEGATIONS, SAYING INVESTIGATORS JUST MISUNDERSTOOD HIS RESEARCH. FOUR MONTHS LATER, WITHOUT REVEALING WHO ACCUSED HIM OR WHY, THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT DROPPED ALL CHARGES AGAINST HIM. THEY JUST LOOK AT PEOPLE OF CHINESE ETHNICITY OR THAT’S WHERE THEY COME FROM. BUT ONCE THEY HAVE A MICROSCOPE ON YOU, YOU KNOW THE LIKELIHOOD THAT THEY FOUND SOMETHING WRONG. YOU DID IS NOT ZERO. XI KEPT HIS JOB, BUT LOST HIS ROLE AS INTERIM CHAIR OF TEMPLE’S PHYSICS DEPARTMENT. HE SAYS THE ARREST CHILLED HIS PROSPECTS FOR MORE RESEARCH FUNDING AND LEFT HIM WITH THE STIGMA OF BEING CALLED A SUSPECTED SPY FOR CHINA. IT GOES BACK TO THIS NOTION OF PERPETUAL FORM. CIVIL RIGHTS LAWYER JOHN YANG SAYS ASIAN AMERICAN SCIENTISTS HAVE BEEN WARY EVER SINCE 1999, WHEN NUCLEAR SCIENTIST WEN HO LEE WAS FALSELY ACCUSED OF STEALING SECRETS. THEIR FEARS REIGNITED BY THE FIRST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S CHINA INITIATIVE. THE NOTION BEHIND IT WAS THAT THERE WERE CHINESE SCIENTISTS THAT WERE ACTING AS SPIES FOR THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT. BUT CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS SAY THE DATA SHOWS THE PROGRAM CASTS TOO WIDE A NET. ONE STUDY FOUND FEWER THAN A THIRD OF THOSE CHARGED IN THE CHINA INITIATIVE WERE CONVICTED OF ANY WRONGDOING. THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ENDED IT IN 2022, BUT HOUSE REPUBLICANS PASSED A NEW VERSION LAST YEAR. THE FEAR NOW IS THAT BOTH A THE CHINA INITIATIVE WOULD BE RE-INITIATED, AND B IS THAT THIS CONTINUING DRUMBEAT OF XENOPHOBIA SINOPHOBIA WILL CAUSE EVEN MORE EXCESSES. FEW WOULD DENY THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT HAS TRIED TO GATHER INTELLIGENCE ON AMERICAN CAMPUSES, BUT THERE SHOULD BE CATCHING THE REAL SPIES INSTEAD OF SPENDING ALL THE RESOURCES ON INNOCENT CHINESE AMERICAN PROFESSORS RAISED IN A COUNTRY WHERE SCIENCE WAS SILENCED. XIAOXING XI IS DETERMINED TO STAND UP FOR THE PRINCIPLES OF HIS ADOPTED HOME. ONE THING THAT YOU GET IN THIS COUNTRY IS THAT WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO SPEAK UP. I’M TALKING ABOUT THIS AND HOPING TO MAKE THE UNITED STATES BETTER AND LIVE UP TO ITS PROMISE TO BE A NATION COMMITTED TO JUSTICE FOR ALL. IN WASHINGTON. I’M JULIE CHEN, FOR MATTER OF FACT, WE REACHED OUT TO THE FBI. IT HAD NO COMMENT. SHE AND HIS FAMILY SUED THE GOVERNMENT FOR MALICIOUS PROSECUTION STEMMING FR