The Fiscal Year 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriations bill does not name the programme directly, but language in the accompanying report calls for its re-establishment to “maintain America’s competitive edge” and “counter China’s malign ambitions to steal American research”.
A scheduled committee meeting to debate the bill was cancelled on Wednesday, but experts said the provision was likely to remain as the legislation moved towards the Senate.
04:26
Chinese-American scientists fear US racial profiling
Chinese-American scientists fear US racial profiling
Originally launched in 2018 to combat alleged economic espionage, the China Initiative was widely criticised as racially biased and ineffective. The Department of Justice officially shut it down following a series of failed prosecutions and mounting backlash from the scientific community.
“It is not only discriminatory, but also harms America’s ability to attract top global talent – ultimately weakening, not strengthening, our national security,” he said in a statement released by the Asian American Scholar Forum, a US-based non-profit organisation that advocates for academic belonging and equity in Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities.
Chen is among more than 1,000 US researchers and university staff led by Stanford physicists Steven Kivelson and Peter Michelson in signing a letter that urged lawmakers to remove the provision. The letter, dated July 22, warned that reviving the initiative would deter talent, damage innovation and inadvertently advance China’s own recruitment efforts.
