3 ms·

I'd guess he admitted what the govt already knew after they showed him the proof they knew it.

dirtyid 6y ago
For what it's worth, Chinese foreign ministry denies his military affiliation. Official claim is that he's just doctor studying broad. I'm only stating this this possibility because it's atypical for China to issue flat denials in these circumstances and the records under the China initiative has share of overzealous prosecution. It's possible DoJ broadened the definition to what constitutes as PLA affiliation. Labeling tech researchers as PLA personnel is the same spin used to accuse Huawei's founder of PLA affiliation during the Huawei campaign, despite him never holding military rank. Maybe not so much as showing proof as redefining proof. Just seems odd a spy would cooperate this completely VS an academic who thought their actions acceptable a month before suddenly becoming not. Senior Chinese academics doing research in West while running labs in China was acceptable / grayzone practice that just shifted into high risk behaviour. This arrest happened in context of June 1st proclamation to crack down on Chinese researchers [1]. The timing of arrests with respect to new policy proclamations is important especially with respect to geopolitical signalling i.e. Meng extradited month after DoJ extradition initiative. There's a lot of norms recently being upended for Chinese academics with particular focus on affiliations to Chinese military institutions - hence why he's not being charged for crime related to transfer of research (and I surmise, won't be) - the entire replicating layout and research stuff might be nominally above board, but the DoJ just wanted to nail and Chinese academic ASAP to signal to China arrangements that were nominally acceptable before are now subject to prosecution. "Killing the Chickens, to Scare the Monkeys". Otherwise I feel like they would choose a much clear cut case. So far it feels like more geopolitics and elections posturing. [1] https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3088116/its-new-chinese-exclusion-act-how-trump-order-could https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article...

For what it's worth, Chinese foreign ministry denies his military affiliation. Official claim is that he's just doctor studying broad. I'm only stating this this possibility because it's atypical for China to issue flat denials in these circumstances and the records under the China initiative has share of overzealous prosecution. It's possible DoJ broadened the definition to what constitutes as PLA affiliation. Labeling tech researchers as PLA personnel is the same spin used to accuse Huawei's founder of PLA affiliation during the Huawei campaign, despite him never holding military rank. Maybe not so much as showing proof as redefining proof. Just seems odd a spy would cooperate this completely VS an academic who thought their actions acceptable a month before suddenly becoming not. Senior Chinese academics doing research in West while running labs in China was acceptable / grayzone practice that just shifted into high risk behaviour. This arrest happened in context of June 1st proclamation to crack down on Chinese researchers [1]. The timing of arrests with respect to new policy proclamations is important especially with respect to geopolitical signalling i.e. Meng extradited month after DoJ extradition initiative. There's a lot of norms recently being upended for Chinese academics with particular focus on affiliations to Chinese military institutions - hence why he's not being charged for crime related to transfer of research (and I surmise, won't be) - the entire replicating layout and research stuff might be nominally above board, but the DoJ just wanted to nail and Chinese academic ASAP to signal to China arrangements that were nominally acceptable before are now subject to prosecution. "Killing the Chickens, to Scare the Monkeys". Otherwise I feel like they would choose a much clear cut case. So far it feels like more geopolitics and elections posturing. [1] https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3088116/its-new-chinese-exclusion-act-how-trump-order-could https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article...