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US investigations of Chinese scientists expand focus to military ties

Authorities in the United States increase scrutiny of Chinese researchers’ background, causing concern about unfair accusations.
  1. Nidhi Subbaraman
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When cancer researcher Juan Tang took refuge from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco in July, she drew national attention. Days later, the FBI arrested Tang — a Chinese national who was on a months-long research assignment in the United States — on charges of concealing her role as a Chinese military officer from the US government. Tang has since entered a not-guilty plea and, as of early September, is in custody in California, though her team of attorneys is arguing for her to be released while she awaits a jury trial.

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Nature 585, 170-171 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02515-x

Additional reporting by Richard van Noorden.

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 04 September 2020: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Glenn Tiffert is a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution. He recently became a research fellow at the institution.

  • Clarification 09 September 2020: This story was updated to make clear that Digital Science, which owns the Dimensions database that Nature used in its analysis, is part of Holtzbrinck, the majority shareholder in Nature's publisher, Springer Nature.

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