The arrest of Dr. Gang Chen on January 13th 2021 by the Boston FBI is nothing but thinly veiled racism.
If MIT does not support Dr. Gang Chen, MIT will be implicated in one of the worst cases of academic racism in the 21st century.
Dr. Chen is a highly respected scientist at MIT. His associations with China are very normal in academia.
Dr. Chen’s association with the Southern University of Science and Technology, or SUSTech, is known to both of you. The top leadership of Shenzhen city, where SUSTech is located, visited MIT and have met the MIT leadership. Dr. Chen signed an agreement with SUSTech on behalf of MIT, not on behalf of himself. There is no secret hidden by Dr. Chen that he is advising SUSTech.
The key charge by the FBI was that Dr. Chen did not disclose on his grant proposal to the DOE 5 associations with China: 1) an advisor to SUSTech, 2) “review expert” for the National Natural Science Foundation of China or NNSFC, 3) a Zhongguanchun Development Group or ZDG Overseas Strategic Scientist, 4) an advisor to the China Scholar Councilor or CSC, and 5) a “ 4th Overseas Expert Consultant” to the PRC government.
This is a ridiculous charge. First of all, funding agencies require applicants to disclose associations that are related to the research in the grant proposal, so that a research project does not receive duplicate funding. So, if Dr. Chen has a project funded by both a US agency and another US or Chinese agency, he should have disclosed it. But none of the 5 associations are related to Dr. Chen’s research funding, so of course he should not list them on his grant proposals. Secondly, these associations are usual outside activities of most scholars that do not impinge on their own research or work. Thus, they do not affect grant review processes and do not need to be disclosed to funding agencies. Thirdly, reviewing grants for other countries (such as NNSFC) is a regular activity. If failure to report reviewing for NNSFC is a crime, then almost all MIT professors could be charged with reviewing for funding agencies of Israeli, Italian, or British governments. Singling out a science foundation of China as a government agency is simply racism as all major governments have science foundations.
The other four associations of Dr. Chen would add up to less than half a day of work per year because those associations have little to ask him other than using his name to let superiors know that each agency “had consulted” international experts.
The root of the problem is, of course, known to all of us: Trumpism has fundamentally eroded morality in the US.
Much have to be done for the US to recover from Trumpism. The entire world has witnessed how few US politicians have spines, in front of Trump and his lies.
We certainly hope that MIT, a beacon of academic excellency and freedom, will hold its head high and show your spine in front of a racist Boston FBI and its agents in defending Dr. Chen.
This is for Dr. Chen, but it is also, if not more, for MIT.
【 以下文字转载自 Military 讨论区 】
发信人: envivas (envivas), 信区: Military
标 题: 饶毅:致MIT校长副校长的信：抬起头颅 直起脊梁
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Fri Jan 15 09:22:15 2021, 美东)
致MIT校长副校长的信：抬起头颅 直起脊梁
饶议科学 Today
麻省理工学院（MIT）校长Rafael Reif
MIT研究副校长Maria Zuber
亲爱的Reif和 Zuber博士
波士顿联邦调查局（FBI）于2021年1月13日逮捕陈刚博士不是其他，就是种族主义行为。
如果MIT不支持陈刚博士，MIT将被认为参与了二十一世纪最糟糕的学术界种族歧视案例之一。
陈博士是受高度尊重的MIT科学家。他与中国的关系是学术界非常正常的关系。
陈博士与南方科技大学（南科大）的关系，你们两位都知道。南科大所在的深圳市领导曾经访问MIT，与MIT领导层会晤。陈博士与南科大签署的合约是代表MIT，不是代表他
本人。陈博士咨询南科大丝毫不是秘密。
FBI对陈博士的关键指控是陈博士在申请能源部经费时，没有披露他与中国的五个关系
：1）南科大顾问，2）中国国家自然科学基金会的评审专家，3）中关村发展集团战略
科学家，4）中国留学生基金会顾问，5）中国第四届海外专家顾问。
这一指控极其荒谬。首先，研究经费发放机构要求申请人披露与研究相关的关系，以避免同一研究有多重经费支持。如果申请人有一项研究同时得到美国两个基金、或一个美国基金和一个中国基金支持，他应该披露。但以上五个关系都无关陈博士的研究经费，所以他当然不用在研究经费申请上披露。其次，他的这些关系是大多数学者一般的校外活动，不影响其研究和工作。它们不影响经费评审过程，不用向经费单位披露。第三，美国科学家为外国基金发放单位（如中国国家自然科学基金委）评审是常规工作。如果不披露为中国国家基金会评审经费是罪，那么有可能几乎所有MIT教授都可以被起诉曾
经为以色列、意大利或英国政府的经费机构评审过研究课题。单单挑出中国的科学基金会为政府机构当然是种族主义，因为所有主要政府都有科学基金会。
陈博士的其他四个关系，可能充其量加起来一年只需要用他半天时间。与他有那些关系的机构不过是用他的名字，以便报告上级，自己“咨询了”国际顾问。
问题的根本所在，当然众所周知：川普主义从根本上腐蚀了美国的道德。
美国需要做很多才能从川普主义恢复过来。全世界都见证了，在川普和他的谎言面前，美国很少政治家有脊梁。
人们当然希望，作为学术卓越和学术自由灯塔的MIT，将昂起头颅，在波士顿FBI及其探员面前显示自己的脊梁，保护陈博士。
这是为陈博士，也是（如果不是更是）为MIT。
世界在看着。
饶毅
主题: MIT and racism Re: A slippery road
Rafael Reif
Chancellor, MIT
Maria Zuber
Vice Chancellor for Research, MIT
Dear Drs. Reif and Zuber,
The arrest of Dr. Gang Chen on January 13th 2021 by the Boston FBI is
nothing but thinly veiled racism.
If MIT does not support Dr. Gang Chen, MIT will be implicated in one of the worst cases of academic racism in the 21st century.
Dr. Chen is a highly respected scientist at MIT. His associations with China are very normal in academia.
Dr. Chen’s association with the Southern University of Science and
Technology, or SUSTech, is known to both of you. The top leadership of
Shenzhen city, where SUSTech is located, visited MIT and have met the MIT
leadership. Dr. Chen signed an agreement with SUSTech on behalf of MIT, not on behalf of himself. There is no secret hidden by Dr. Chen that he is
advising SUSTech.
The key charge by the FBI was that Dr. Chen did not disclose on his grant
proposal to the DOE 5 associations with China: 1) an advisor to SUSTech, 2) “review expert” for the National Natural Science Foundation of China or
NNSFC, 3) a Zhongguanchun Development Group or ZDG Overseas Strategic
Scientist, 4) an advisor to the China Scholar Councilor or CSC, and 5) a “
4th Overseas Expert Consultant” to the PRC government.
This is a ridiculous charge. First of all, funding agencies require
applicants to disclose associations that are related to the research in the grant proposal, so that a research project does not receive duplicate
funding. So, if Dr. Chen has a project funded by both a US agency and
another US or Chinese agency, he should have disclosed it. But none of the 5 associations are related to Dr. Chen’s research funding, so of course he
should not list them on his grant proposals. Secondly, these associations
are usual outside activities of most scholars that do not impinge on their
own research or work. Thus, they do not affect grant review processes and do not need to be disclosed to funding agencies. Thirdly, reviewing grants for other countries (such as NNSFC) is a regular activity. If failure to report reviewing for NNSFC is a crime, then almost all MIT professors could be
charged with reviewing for funding agencies of Israeli, Italian, or British governments. Singling out a science foundation of China as a government
agency is simply racism as all major governments have science foundations.
The other four associations of Dr. Chen would add up to less than half a day of work per year because those associations have little to ask him other
than using his name to let superiors know that each agency “had consulted” international experts.
The root of the problem is, of course, known to all of us: Trumpism has
fundamentally eroded morality in the US.
Much have to be done for the US to recover from Trumpism. The entire world
has witnessed how few US politicians have spines, in front of Trump and his lies.
We certainly hope that MIT, a beacon of academic excellency and freedom,
will hold its head high and show your spine in front of a racist Boston FBI and its agents in defending Dr. Chen.
This is for Dr. Chen, but it is also, if not more, for MIT.
The world is watching.
Yi Rao