United States moves to drop cases against Chinese researchers accused of hiding military ties

The department filed motions Thursday and Friday to dismiss visa fraud and other charges it brought last summer against the researchers as the Biden administration grapples with holding Beijing accountable for its cyberattacks and its harsh crackdowns in Hong Kong and in the far western region of Xinjiang. The dismissals also come as the State Department’s No. 2 official, Wendy Sherman, is to meet in the coming days with Chinese officials in Tianjin.

“Recent developments in a handful of cases involving defendants with alleged, undisclosed ties to the People’s Liberation Army of the People’s Republic of China have prompted the department to reevaluate these prosecutions,” said Wyn Hornbuckle, a Justice Department spokesman, offering few specifics. “We have determined that it is now in the interest of justice to dismiss them.”

The arrests were part of a spate of cases last summer involving researchers and academics who had ties to China as the Trump administration aggressively sought to curb Beijing’s efforts to steal intellectual property, corporate secrets, military intelligence and other information it could use to expand its global influence. At the time, the United States ordered China to close its Houston consulate, accusing it of being a hub for “massive illegal spying and influence operations.” China denied the allegations and retaliated by forcing a U.S. consulate in Chengdu to close.

Under the Trump-era initiative, the Justice Department prosecuted people affiliated with the Chinese government for major computer breaches and for economic espionage. It also cracked down on China’s efforts to cultivate and influence academics at American colleges and research centers, arresting academics accused of improperly sharing technical expertise and other research.

Officials have said that more than 1,000 researchers affiliated with the Chinese military left the United States after the arrests last summer.

Hornbuckle said that the latest motions did not reflect a shift away from the initiative and that the department “continues to place a very high priority on countering the threat posed to American research security and academic integrity” by Beijing.