A group of Stanford University professors joined a louder call for Washington to end a Trump-era federal justice program “China Initiative”, which attempts to look for Chinese spies across US campuses and academic institutions. Given the toxic environment where anyone has ties with China looks suspicious, it fell on deaf ears.

The professors’ grievance came just days after the awkward trial of Chinese scientist Hu Anming ended in his acquittal last week. Hu’s case is the first ruling of all cases related to the “China Initiative” and is also a microcosm of the sufferings of Chinese scholars and researchers involved in the US government’s witch hunt-like crackdown on foreign spies.

The FBI had spent nearly two years tracing the University of Tennessee scientist and incited him for misdemeanors after they found no evidence that Hu was involved in spying. Even viewing all the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, no rational jury could conclude that Hu acted to deceive the US government, said the court.

A juror told media that Hu’s case was the “most ridiculous” and the FBI owed Hu an apology. “If this is who is protecting America, we’ve got problems.”

Since its launch in 2018, the “China Initiative” has met waves of criticism. Although US law enforcement gave weight to the risk of “Chinese spies” in US academic institutions, so far the most common charges brought under the program have not been espionage, theft of intellectual property or acting as unregistered foreign agents.

To start a federal justice campaign after a specific country is unprecedented and racist, observed civil rights groups in the US. Scholars from both countries and law experts agreed instead of an appropriate approach to countering espionage, the program has impeded normal academic exchanges between two countries, and is terrorizing scientists.

The “China Initiative” is an example of the resurgence of McCarthyism in the US. A report by Johns Hopkins University revealed that the US Justice Department required 94 regional judicial departments to file at least one or two lawsuits against China every year and more than 2,000 investigations have been started.

Considering the federal justice system has to meet a quota in an ideologically driven program, no wonder there have been so many alleged espionage and theft of secrets charges forced upon Chinese individuals and institutions. Placing a political target ahead of the interests of justice will only lead to cases involving unjust, false or wrong charges.

The “China Initiative” was born at a time the China-US tensions dramatically escalated, survived the power transition from a Republican president to a Democratic one, and seems will live on.

Asked about the letter of Stanford University professors, a Justice Department spokesperson ruled out the possibility of shutting down the program immediately. As long as the US government treats China as an enemy to its global superiority, this game of hunting criminals among the innocent will not be over.