US House lawmakers abandon bid to bring back controversial China Initiative

Following months of opposition from the Asian-American community, US House lawmakers on Thursday removed a provision from a bill aimed at restarting the China Initiative, a programme that unfairly targeted Chinese-American researchers.\nLast September, the proposal to “direct the re-establishment of the China Initiative” was included as a measure to “counter China and maintain America’s competitive edge” in the financial year 2026 appropriations bill approved by the House Committee on Appropriations.\nGisela Perez Kusakawa, executive director of the Asian American Scholar Forum, on Thursday commended the removal, saying efforts to revive the US Justice Department’s China Initiative “undermine trust, harm American research and disproportionately endanger Asian-American scholars, researchers and scientists”.\n“The removal of this language is an important affirmation that national security policies must be rooted in evidence, fairness and respect for American values and freedoms,” Perez Kusakawa said.\n\n\nJohn Yang, president of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, said anti-Asian hate levels in the US remained at historic highs.\n“We are encouraged to see that Congress listened to our concerns and removed language that sought to unfairly target Chinese-American and Chinese immigrant scientists, researchers and academics under the guise of national security,” Yang said.\nThe two groups were among 82 civil rights and Asian-American advocacy organisations that signed a letter sent to the influential House committee in September last year opposing the language.\nThe letter said that “reinstating the ‘China Initiative’ or any similar programme would … exacerbate the existing chilling effect, discouraging talented scholars and scientists from contributing to US scientific innovation and may result in significant loss of talent”.\n“This would hamper America’s scientific progress and innovation, and hurt our country’s ability to remain a global leader in science and technology to the detriment of all,” it added.\nLaunched in 2018 during US President Donald Trump’s first term, the China Initiative was touted as combating suspected economic espionage but came to be widely criticised as racially biased and ineffective.\nThe Justice Department officially ended the programme in 2022 following a series of failed prosecutions and a backlash from the scientific community.\nRemaining provisions in the 2026 appropriations bill outlined a strategy to counter China through investment in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and advanced manufacturing. It also backed the Artemis lunar exploration programme and efforts to counter “China’s malign ambitions to steal American research”.\nIn recent years, the US and China have been locked in a mounting rivalry for technological and scientific supremacy, competing in critical and emerging fields such as AI, semiconductors, quantum science and biotechnology.\nLeading scientists have also been relocating from the US to China in a wave that is altering the landscape of global research, with some citing funding cuts, unfavourable research conditions, politics and family reasons.\n