Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC Commends Decision Overturning Conviction of Dr. Feng “Franklin” Tao Under the ‘China Initiative’
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On Thursday, July 11, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed former University of Kansas professor Dr. Feng “Franklin” Tao’s 2019 convictions of wire fraud and making a false statement related to work he did in China. Dr. Tao was charged under the now-defunct “China Initiative,” which supposedly aimed to combat Chinese espionage and research theft. The U.S. Department of Justice ended the program in 2022 after the successful efforts of civil rights groups such as Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC (Advancing Justice – AAJC).
Joanna YangQing Derman, Director of Anti-Profiling, Civil Rights, and National Security at Advancing Justice – AAJC, released the following statement:
“We applaud the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to overturn Dr. Tao’s conviction and heartened by their recognition that there was insufficient evidence to support the charges made against him. It was clear that from the beginning that Dr. Tao’s case was one of racial profiling and that he and other Asian American scholars were targeted based on ethnicity and national origin through the China Initiative.
“While it is appropriate for the Department of Justice to address threats to national security, the China Initiative was based on xenophobic rhetoric that scapegoats and criminalizes Asian people. It brought racism into academic institutions and contributed to the treatment of Asian Americans as ‘perpetual foreigners.’ On top of that, the program tore apart families, destroyed careers and caused immeasurable harm to Asian and immigrant communities – all without making genuine progress in combatting espionage.
“We’re pleased to know that Dr. Tao has been given the opportunity to rebuild his life and career following the years of his unjust conviction. However, we are still seeing alarming efforts to reinstate the China Initiative in Congress. Advancing Justice – AAJC will continue to monitor these discriminatory policies across the country and fight back.”
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