The US Judicial Department program that aims to protect American technology from China dropped five prosecution of Chinese scientists after the draft analysis of the FBI internally questioned the main premise for investigations, according to court documents.
“Chinese initiative” has been criticized by the advocate of civil liberties as a bias race, and judges in several court processes have stated skeptics about the FBI tactics in interrogating scientists.
On Thursday and Friday, the US government submitted a movement in the Federal Court to dismiss the charges in five cases of Chinese researchers who were arrested on charges of visa fraud last year.
All begged innocently to falsify the visa application to hide military bonds and other charges.
The movement to dismiss the case coincides with the Deputy Secretary of State of the New Administrative State, Wendy Sherman, visited China on Sunday and Monday.
The five arrests occurred about a year ago when US-Chinese relations were in a nadir and now the two largest economies in the world are trying to navigate troubled relationships.
The Ministry of Justice said in a statement that it dismissed cases in “justice interests”.
US-based Chinese officials cannot be contacted immediately to comment on development.
“Recent developments in several cases involving the defendants with the allegedly expressed by the People’s Liberation Forces of the People’s Republic of China have pushed the department to reevaluate this prosecution,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, Wyn Hornbuckle, said, without detailing the development , Court documents submitted this month in two cases including the FBI draft analysis that questioned how useful the investigation was to protect the technology developed in the United States.
The report said that the visa application question about military service that ensnared scientists, was not clear.
The analysis was written as a reaction to the Chinese Technology Transfer Analysis Unit on the FBI which was nominated in February for “high impact” “Arrest of PLA students”.
PLA refers to the Chinese military.
The FBI unit leader did not agree with the impact of arrest and removing units from the award nomination, according to court documents.
Asked about the court court, justice officials were answered via email that “draft analysis encouraged questions and requests from the defense advisor that we cannot complete before the date of trial Monday.” One case is scheduled to begin on Monday.
The official said that in most cases, the sentence would be a year or less and that the defendants had their freedom to be limited for that time both in prison or out on guarantee.
Defense lawyers say only “crime” their clients run from US-Chinese politics.
John Hanann, a lawyer for Chinese brain researchers Song Chen, said they were “grateful and relieved” the case of him had been dismissed and “the government has done the right thing.”