Amid national probe of Chinese scholars, UC Davis researcher renews bid for release

As the Justice Department continues its nationwide probe of Chinese researchers working at American universities, lawyers for a former UC Davis cancer scientist accused of lying about her ties to China’s military are set to ask a court Thursday to allow her release from jail.

Lawyers for Dr. Juan Tang, who was arrested by the FBI on July 23 after seeking refuge inside the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, argue that she is not a flight risk and say Asian American community leaders, business members and attorneys have come forward to help, including one attorney who has offered to house her while she fights the case in court.

“The charged offenses themselves certainly are not crimes involving a danger to others,” Sacramento attorneys Malcolm Segal and Tom Johnson wrote in a motion seeking her release from the Sacramento County Main Jail. “In fact, Dr. Tang’s professional life is the antithesis of danger to life — she is trying to help cure cancer.”

They also note that Tang “has a pre-existing asthma condition” that could put her at risk if she contracts COVID-19 in the jail, and that if released she could be subjected to electronic monitoring, if necessary.

Feds say she is ‘serious flight risk’

Federal prosecutors have opposed her release, arguing that she lied on her visa application about not having ties to the People’s Liberation Army Air Force and China’s Communist party, and producing photos of her in military-style uniforms.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Heiko Coppola has argued that she “is a serious flight risk” and an “active duty member of the Chinese military’s scientific community, who lied to gain entry into the United States, attempted to destroy evidence, and lied extensively to the FBI when interviewed.”

The argument was strong enough to convince a federal magistrate judge on July 31 to order Tang to remain in custody.

But Tang’s lawyers argue that prosecutors have “floated the idea” the 37-year-old researcher’s case is related to a series of other arrests of Chinese scholars nationwide in recent months, and wrote that “there is no stated or conceivable connection” to those cases.

Charges accuse her of lying, not acting as spy

“After careful investigation, the Department of Justice charged Dr. Tang only with visa fraud,” Segal said in an interview Wednesday. “She is not charged with being a spy or doing anything antithetical to our government or the research program involved.

“She’s a cancer researcher whose life involves trying to save lives.”

The Justice Department has included her case in mentions of dozens of other prosecutions as part of the Trump administration’s “China Initiative,” a high-profile effort launched in 2018 to go after cases of trade secret theft, economic espionage and computer hacking.

Latest arrest in China probe was Monday

The most recent case came Monday in Texas, where prosecutors charged a Texas A&M professor who leads a NASA research team with conspiracy, making false statements and wire fraud.

Zhengdong Cheng, 53, was arrested Sunday and charged with obscuring his ties to a Chinese university and at least one Chinese-owned company despite grant requirements that prohibited him from having any coordination with Chinese entities, the Justice Department said.

Other recent prosecutions under the China Initiative, which is run by the department’s national security division, include:

▪ the Aug. 14 arrest of a former CIA officer charged with conspiring with another former CIA officer to communicate top secret classified information to Chinese intelligence officials;

▪ the Aug. 6 arrests of a company president and employee in New York who are accused of conspiring to illegally export electronics components;

▪ and the July 29 arrest of a University of Arkansas professor charged with wire fraud and passport fraud.

War of words between U.S., China

The arrests come amid heightened frictions between China and the United States, as well as a series of speeches by Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and FBI Director Christopher Wray denouncing what they say are the Chinese government’s continued efforts to divert American technology and research innovations back to China.

The Chinese consulate in Houston was ordered closed in July after American officials said it was being used as a front for espionage activities, and Justice Department officials said Monday that the latest arrest in Texas is evidence that China’s “1,000 Talents Program” aims to steal American innovation.

“China is building an economy and academic institutions with bricks stolen from others all around the world,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick of the Southern District of Texas said in a statement issued after the arrest. “While 1.4 million foreign researchers and academics are here in the U.S. for the right reasons, the Chinese Talents Program exploits our open and free universities.

“These conflicts must be disclosed, and we will hold those accountable when such conflict violates the law.”

Tang took refuge in SF consulate for month

Tang’s case has been connected to the Justice Department’s other prosecutions, and gained attention because she spent a month inside the Chinese consulate before the FBI was able to arrest her in July.

Tang flew into San Francisco International Airport on Dec. 27 with her husband, an orthopedic surgeon; her mother; and her young daughter. Her husband later returned to China and she settled into an apartment in Davis, where she began trying to find a school for her daughter and started preliminary work at the UC Davis lab reviewing materials and taking tests “necessary for her to join in the grant program and access the research,” her lawyers wrote in a court filing.

But by April the coronavirus pandemic had shut down the lab and she began making plans to return to China with her family — long before she became aware of any investigation, court documents say.

She purchased airline tickets for her mother and daughter and was trying to find a ticket for herself when the FBI came to interview her on June 20. Agents seized her passport, laptop and cellphone, but did not arrest her, leading her to make “the highly advisable decision” to seek help from the consulate in San Francisco, court documents say.

She remained there for several weeks, while her mother and daughter flew back to China and she remained at the consulate “as she attempted to sort out her personal and professional situation,” court documents say.

She did not learn that a criminal complaint had been filed against her under seal on June 26 until nearly a month later, when the FBI informed consulate officials. She was arrested after she left the consulate on July 23 to seek medical care.

Lawyers say she was afraid after FBI seized passport

“There is nothing inherently ‘untrustworthy’ in seeking consulate assistance,” her lawyers wrote, arguing that the State Department advises U.S. citizens to do the same if they encounter trouble overseas. “Dr. Tang did not flee, she did not attempt to leave the country and had no passport, and she did not conceal her whereabouts.

“Unable to speak the English language, and without anyone else to guide her, she simply stayed at the consulate while she tried to ascertain the nature of her legal problem and how to resolve it. This does not indicate flight; it indicates fear and apprehension, and a reasonable decision to reach out to consular officials.”

Her lawyers also note that the photos prosecutors have produced may actually be associated with a civilian branch of a joint project between civilian and military researchers.

“That does not make their case — indeed, the participation of civilian employees in joint civilian-military endeavors is hardly a foreign concept in the United States,” they wrote. “This country has large medical and research facilities associated with the military, which employ civilians in non-military administrative, research, and a multitude of other positions.

“Federal law calls for our civilian Defense Department employees to be provided an allowance for their uniforms.”

Her lawyers say if she is released on bail she can be housed at the home of a well-known civil attorney — whose identity has been filed in court documents under seal — and spouse who both speak Mandarin fluently. And they say Tang would have no reason to flee a prosecution that a federal defender has said would likely result in a six-month sentence if she is convicted.

“She has a professional career and enjoys a professional reputation that she is motivated to protect,” Segal and Johnson argued. “There is no indication she has ever previously been accused of any offense, and she has been entirely cooperative with authorities; it would be contrary to her established character for anyone with such a professional life and career, a spouse, a child and a family, to become an international fugitive.”