China accuses US of harassing Chinese students, researchers

Beijing, August 3

China on Monday accused the United States of “monitoring, harassing and willfully detaining” Chinese college students and researchers within the US.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s feedback observe the denial of a bail request in California for a college researcher accused of mendacity about her ties to China’s army and Communist Party to achieve entry to the United States.

Wang mentioned China had no intention of serving to Juan Tang escape the nation, however didn’t in any other case remark immediately on the accusations towards her.

However, he mentioned China urges the US to “handle the case fairly in accordance with the law and ensure the safety and legitimate rights and interests” because of Tang.

“For some time, the US, with ideological prejudice, keeps monitoring, harassing and willfully detaining Chinese students and researchers, and making presumptions of guilt against Chinese researchers”, Wang mentioned.

“The US actions have seriously violated the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens and severely disrupted the normal cultural and personnel exchanges between China and the US, which amounts to outright political persecution,” he mentioned.

In denying bail, US Magistrate Judge Deborah Barnes mentioned Tang, 37, would have motive to go away the nation if launched. Tang has been held with out bail since July 23 when she was arrested after she left the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco to hunt medical take care of her bronchial asthma.

Tang, who has a doctorate in mobile biology, entered the United States on December 27, 2019, to work on the University of California, Davis, as a visiting researcher within the Department of Radiation Oncology, Alexandra Negin, an assistant federal public defender, mentioned in her submitting asking the court docket for her launch on bail.

The lab closed due to the coronavirus pandemic and Tang had been getting ready to return to China, Negin mentioned.

Tang and three different scientists dwelling within the US face costs of mendacity about their standing as members of China’s People’s Liberation Army, or PLA. All had been charged with visa fraud, the Justice Department mentioned.

Tang was the final of the 4 to be arrested after the Justice Department accused the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco of harboring a recognized fugitive.

Negin mentioned Tang went to the consulate to hunt assist and remained there after FBI brokers questioned her at her Davis house on June 20 and executed a search warrant, seizing her passport and visa.

Agents discovered images of Tang in a uniform of the civilian cadre of the PLA and in addition reviewed articles from China that recognized her army affiliation. Negin argued that the proof towards Tang is predicated on outdated images from when she was a scholar at a medical college run by the army and paperwork that had been translated on apps. — AP