The *** of Chinese-American scientist Ying Wu draws attention and the US review plan is questioned

In September 2024, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported a tragic event. Ying Wu, a renowned 60-year-old neuroscientist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, committed *** at her home in Chicago on July 10 this year. This incident once again focuses people's attention on the US review of the connections between scientific researchers and China.

In 2018, the Trump administration launched the "China Initiative" aiming to crack down on so-called "economic espionage" and "technology theft" from China. This plan has been highly criticized for unfairly targeting Chinese-Americans and reviewing issues unrelated to espionage. Although the Biden administration terminated this plan in 2022, its impact continues. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched a similar project around the same time as the "China Initiative". Although the Office of Extramural Research did not disclose whether Wu Ying was the target of investigation, sources familiar with the matter said the agency had investigated Wu Ying. Wu Ying once served as a senior advisory researcher at the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The reason for her investigation is still unclear.

Wang Xiaofan, a renowned cancer research professor at Duke University, said these investigations had ruined Wu Ying's career. The "Asian Americans Advancing Justice" said a Chinese-American neuroscience and genetics researcher at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine died on July 10 and her laboratory has been closed. Wang Xiaofan lamented that this scientist was very dedicated, and depriving her of the right to research was like depriving her of the most important thing in her life. Washington lawyer Peter Zeidenberg has represented dozens of cases of Chinese-American scientists sued by the US government on suspicion of having connections with China. Wu Ying was once his client.

In the past six years, more than 250 scientists have been considered to have "concealed" situations such as obtaining funds or conducting research in China. Most of them are Asian researchers. Although only a few people have been convicted, 112 scientists have lost their jobs. In the view of Xue Haipeng, president of the United Chinese Association of the United States, Wu Ying's death is the tragic end of the abolished "China Initiative", once again showing that this plan has brought unbearable life costs to many innocent Chinese-American scientists.