China's Thousand Talent Plan

Amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic across America, another threat is encroaching on America’s border: China’s Thousand Talent Plan. This seemingly harmless plan involves  the Chinese government incentivizing U.S. scientists to research and work for China in exchange for benefits such as research funding and lab space. Through the plan, China effectively steals intellectual property from the U.S. 

In late January, Charles M. Lieber, the chair of Harvard’s Chemistry Department, was accused of lying to federal authorities about his connection with the Chinese government and the Thousand Talents Program. Lieber, who lives in Lexington, and many other scientists in the US joined the Thousand Talents Program because they found that too much of their time was spent on fundraising. “We have time to think here,” Jon Antilla, previously a professor at the University of Southern California and a current faculty member at China’s Tianjin University (part of the Thousand Talents Program), said. “You can think about your research.” 

Researchers said they are paid with starting salaries as much as three or four times their existing salaries, which reduces the amount of time they need to be spending on getting funding and increases  time for researching.

Lieber received $50,000 a month plus $150,000 per year for “living and personal expenses.” Although this deal between scientists and the Chinese government is not illegal, it is highly unethical. This deal functionally sells U.S. research to China. The unethical loophole is made possible through not directly showing any of the U.S. funded research, but rather getting paid to work with Chinese scientists and conveying techniques and knowledge to help Chinese research.

Yet, despite the excessive evidence against the Chinese government, the Chinese people and government still deny the many allegations. Rao Yi, a Chinese neurobiologist born in China, returned to China after graduating the University of California, San Francisco, claimed that allegations that the program was used to steal intellectual property were “a fat lie,” A spokeswoman for China’s embassy in Washington, Fang Hong, also claimed that violations uncovered by the United States Government reflected the actions of individual scientists, not the Chinese government.

by WILSON WU