On March 28, the FBI raided the two residences of a Chinese-American data security expert, raising concerns about whether the Trump administration is re-implementing the China Initiative it promoted during its first term to target China's national security threats.
The Indiana Daily Student reported on the 29th that the FBI searched two residences of Xiaofeng Wang, a professor at Indiana University Bloomington, in Carmel and Bloomington last Friday. It later updated the report stating that Indiana University dismissed Wang Xiaofeng from his teaching position on the same day.
FBI spokesman Chris Bavender did not provide further information, saying only that the operation was related to Wang Xiaofeng's activities at his Carmel residence.
Citing website records, the newspaper reported that Wang Xiaofeng has been at Indiana University since 2004 and has served as dean of research at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, as well as director of the Center for Security and Privacy. His research focuses on system security and data privacy, particularly security issues related to mobile communications, cloud computing, and the human genome.
At present, the personal pages of Wang Xiaofeng and his co-owner of two residences, Nianli Ma (transliteration), at Indiana University (including personal honor records) have been deleted; Ma Nianli is the chief systems analyst and programmer of the Indiana University Library.
The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post pointed out that a Chinese biologist working at the National Institutes of Health told the newspaper's reporter anonymously that Wang Xiaofeng's experience has frightened many Chinese-American scientists.
China Plan 2.0?
In order to combat China's economic espionage, US President Trump launched the China Plan during his first term, but the plan subsequently sparked controversy over whether it discriminated against Chinese-American scholars and scientists.
A founder of a Chinese biotech startup, who wished to remain anonymous, told the South China Morning Post that while Wang Xiaofeng's case was an isolated incident, it would have a significant impact on Chinese scientists, and even other scientists who had immigrated to the United States. He predicted that people working in sensitive fields such as artificial intelligence, computer science, and semiconductors, or even those involved in biology and medicine, could become targets of investigation in the future.
According to a post forwarded on the X social media platform by Matthew Green, a professor of cryptography at Johns Hopkins University, the Indiana University branch of the American Association of University Professors sent a letter to Indiana University Provost Rahul Shrivastav on March 31, stating that the hasty termination of Wang Xiaofeng's tenure without due process, including prior notice and a hearing, constituted a serious violation of academic freedom, exacerbated faculty suspicion and distrust of the university, and made shared governance more difficult.
The South China Morning Post also reported that the US Department of Justice, under the "China Project," investigated thousands of scientists suspected of concealing their ties to China. A Stanford University study in July 2024 indicated that this appears to be a major factor in the outflow of Chinese scientists in recent years. Most cases under the China Project were ultimately dropped due to insufficient evidence, and the program was canceled in 2022, a year after Biden succeeded Trump as US president.
