Charges against five Chinese scientists working in the United States and accused of concealing ties to the Chinese military have been dropped, reported the Wall Street Journal.
Among the five is Tang Juan, a researcher at UC Davis near Sacramento who had been scheduled to begin trial on Monday, according to the Sacramento Bee.
Her attorneys had argued she worked only as a civilian in the military and thus was not a member.
“We are glad that the government decided to dismiss,” his attorneys Malcolm Segal and Tom Johnson said to The Sacramento Bee. “We provided ample reason to do so. It was teetering anyway.”
The judge in the case of Song Chen, a researcher at Stanford, has also dropped charges against Chen for similar reasons.
A group called United Chinese Americans is urging the public to sign a letter and send it to your Congressional Representative and ask them to condemn the racial profiling, targeting, and misconduct towards people in the U.S. of Asian and Chinese descent by Thursday.
Reuters reports that President Trump started his China Initiative three years ago to crack down on the Chinese government.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman is set to visit China Sunday and morning. That trip could set the stage for a visit between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and President Biden later this year.
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