The chemistry professor’s nightmare seemed to finally be over.

这位化学教授的噩梦似乎终于结束了。

Five years had passed since Feng Tao, also known as Franklin, was led by F.B.I. agents out of his home in Lawrence, Kansas. The first professor to be arrested under a Trump-era program aimed at fighting Chinese economic espionage, Dr. Tao was accused of hiding his ties to a Chinese university while conducting federally funded research at the University of Kansas, where he was tenured.

距离陶丰（英文名Franklin）被联邦调查局特工从他位于堪萨斯州劳伦斯的家中带走已经过去了五年。作为特朗普时代旨在打击中国经济间谍活动的计划下被捕的第一位教授，陶丰被控在拥有终身教职的堪萨斯大学进行联邦政府资助的研究时隐瞒了他与一所中国大学的关系。

In July, he won his legal fight. A federal appeals court overturned the final conviction in his case. His wife, Hong Peng, recalled in an interview that she thought her husband could finally return to his lab, and their family could perhaps recover some semblance of a normal life.

去年7月，他打赢了官司。联邦上诉法院推翻了对他的最终定罪。他的妻子彭鸿在接受采访时回忆说，她以为丈夫终于可以回到他的实验室，他们一家也许可以多少恢复到正常生活的样子。

But the University of Kansas has not reinstated him.

但堪萨斯大学并没有让他复职。

Dr. Tao, a Chinese citizen and permanent U.S. resident, is now suing his former employer for wrongful termination. He has accused the university of unlawfully surveilling him on behalf of federal investigators and of violating its own faculty disciplinary policies by terminating him before his criminal proceeding concluded.

陶丰是中国公民，持有美国绿卡，现在他起诉前雇主不当解雇。他指控堪萨斯大学替联邦调查人员对他进行非法监视，并在刑事诉讼结束前将他解雇，违反了学校自己的教职工纪律处分政策。

“The university allowed itself to join in fearmongering and racist witch hunting,” read a complaint filed by Dr. Tao’s lawyers in January in a federal court in Kansas.

“这所大学让自己参与到了制造恐慌和带有种族主义色彩的政治迫害中，”陶丰的律师今年1月在向堪萨斯州的一家联邦法院提交的诉状中写道。

The University of Kansas did not respond to requests for comment.

堪萨斯大学没有回应置评请求。

Dr. Tao’s experience underscores how, more than three years after the Justice Department officially ended the Trump-era program, known as the China Initiative, its impact is still reverberating among professors and researchers of Chinese descent.

陶丰的经历表明，在司法部正式结束特朗普时代的“中国行动计划”三年多后，其影响仍在华裔教授和研究人员中发酵。

The F.B.I. brought at least a dozen prosecutions at universities or research institutions over the three years the initiative was in effect, mostly against scholars of Chinese descent. None involved charges of economic espionage or theft of trade secrets or intellectual property.

在“中国行动计划”实施的三年时间里，联邦调查局在大学或研究机构发起了十余宗检控，其中大部分是针对华裔学者。但这些诉讼中没有一起涉及经济间谍、商业机密或知识产权盗窃的指控。

Critics argued that the program had singled out scientists based on their ethnicity and overreached by blurring the line between violations of disclosure policies and more serious crimes like espionage. Many of the prosecutions against academics of Chinese descent eventually collapsed.

批评者认为，该计划基于族裔对科学家进行针对性打击，并且模糊了违反信息披露政策与间谍等更严重罪行之间的界限，属于执法过当。许多针对华裔学者的起诉最终以失败告终。

Yet there are growing concerns that the China Initiative could be revived under a second Trump administration.

然而，人们越来越担心，在特朗普的第二个任期内，“中国行动计划”可能会卷土重来。

Congress is currently considering an appropriations bill that would allocate funding for a Justice Department program focused on rooting out Chinese espionage, including in academia. And about a week ago, Republican lawmakers reintroduced legislation to protect against Chinese espionage by establishing a “CCP Initiative” — referring to the Chinese Communist Party — under the Justice Department.

国会目前正在考虑一项拨款法案，为司法部的一个旨在清除中国间谍活动的项目提供拨款，包括在学术界。大约一周前，共和党立法者再次提出一项立法，通过在司法部设立一个“CCP行动计划”来防范中国间谍活动——CCP指的是中国共产党。

“President Joe Biden recklessly ended the China Initiative that President Trump established during his first term,” Senator Rick Scott of Florida, the bill’s co-sponsor, said in a statement. “Now, President Trump is back in action to hold Communist China fully accountable for its exploitation of the United States.”

该法案的共同发起人、佛罗里达州参议员里克·斯科特在一份声明中说：“拜登总统鲁莽地终止了特朗普总统在第一个任期内制定的中国行动计划。现在，特朗普总统重新开始行动，让共产中国为其榨取美国利益的行为承担全部责任。”

There is broad agreement that the Chinese government has tried to steal American technology, including through the recruitment of overseas scientists.

中国政府一直试图窃取美国技术，包括通过招募海外科学家来实现，这是一项广泛共识。

Chinese partnerships with U.S.-funded researchers and universities have also helped propel Beijing’s advancements in fields like hypersonics and nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence and semiconductors, according to a report put out last fall by a House committee focused on threats from China.

根据众议院一个关注中国威胁的委员会去年秋天发布的一份报告，中国与美国资助的研究人员和大学之间的合作也有助于推动北京在高超音速技术与核武器、人工智能以及半导体等领域的进步。

American universities disputed parts of that report, but they have also begun shuttering collaborations with Chinese institutions. In January, the University of Michigan ended its joint partnership with a Chinese university.

一些美国大学对该报告的部分内容提出了异议，但它们也开始终止与中方的合作。今年1月，密歇根大学终止了与一所中国大学的合作关系。

Lawmakers have also raised concerns about the large number of Chinese students studying science and engineering on American campuses — sometimes using rhetoric that has been criticized as fearmongering.

议员们还对在美国校园里学习理工科的大量中国留学生表示担忧，他们有时使用的言辞被批评为在制造恐慌。

在参议院外交关系委员会1月举行的听证会上，共和党参议员詹姆斯·里施表示，美国高校“是容易被中国人盯上的地方”。

“The difference is, Chinese students here in the U.S. are not studying ancient Greek history — they’re here studying STEM and national security issues,” Senator James Risch, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in January. “And each one of them, whether they like it or not, is an agent of the Chinese Communist Party.”

“不同的是，在美国的中国学生不是在学习古希腊史——他们在这里学习的是STEM以及国家安全问题，”参议院外交关系委员会共和党主席、参议员詹姆斯·里施在1月份说。“不管愿不愿意，他们每个人都是中共的代理人。”

Critics say resources could be better directed at rooting out actual Chinese espionage threats. Such programs could also backfire on U.S. national security by helping accelerate an outflow of talent that is key to maintaining a scientific and technological edge against China.

批评人士说，资源本可以更好地用于根除真正的中国间谍威胁。此类项目还可能加速人才外流，从而对美国国家安全产生适得其反的后果；而这些人才对于保持美国在与中国的竞争中拥有科技优势至关重要。

“There are real, genuine threats that need to be addressed, but we should not be using a sledgehammer on the issue — we should be using a scalpel,” said Gisela Perez Kusakawa, executive director of the Asian American Scholar Forum, an advocacy group based in New York.

总部位于纽约的倡导组织亚裔美国人学者论坛的执行董事吉塞拉·佩雷斯·草川说，“是有一些真正的威胁需要解决，但我们不应该在这个问题上使用大锤，而应该使用手术刀。”

A 2022 survey of scholars of Chinese descent found that 45 percent of respondents who had previously obtained federal grants said they would avoid doing so in the future. In interviews, many cited concerns that it could subject themselves to unnecessary racial profiling.

2022年一项针对华裔学者的调查发现，在之前获得过联邦资助的受访者中，有45%的人表示他们今后会避免申请此类资助。在采访中，许多人表示他们担心这可能会让自己遭受不必要的种族定性。

The number of academic collaborations between researchers in the United States and China has also declined since 2017. And there are concerns that blanket restrictions on future research collaborations, such as the ones House Republicans recommended in their fall report, could cut American scientists off from areas where China is already ahead, such as materials science, hypersonics and nanotechnology.

自2017年以来，中美两国研究人员之间的学术合作数量也在下降。有人担心，像众议院共和党人在去年秋天的报告中建议的那样，对未来的研究合作实施全面限制，可能会使美国科学家无法接触到中国已经领先的领域，比如材料科学、高超音速技术和纳米技术。

Caroline Wagner, a professor of public policy at the Ohio State University who advises the government on research security, said that given the open nature of scientific research, efforts to blunt China from getting certain technologies could ultimately prove “shortsighted.”

俄亥俄州立大学公共政策教授卡罗琳·瓦格纳曾就科研安全问题向政府提供建议，她说，鉴于科学研究的开放性，阻止中国获得某些技术的努力最终可能被证明是“短视的”。

Federal funding agencies and universities have recently taken steps to clarify which ties academics need to disclose, which Dr. Wagner said was a step in the right direction.

联邦资助的机构和大学最近已经采取措施，对于学者需要披露哪些关系进行了澄清，瓦格纳表示，这是朝着正确方向迈出的一步。

“I’m not sure there would be a need for the China Initiative now given all of the infrastructure that’s being put in place,” she said.

她说：“鉴于所有的相关机制都已到位，我不确定现在是否还有必要实施‘中国行动计划’。”