A coalition of advocate groups for Asian Americans asked Thursday for a meeting with Director of U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Christopher Wray over his accusations that the Chinese people are a threat to the United States.
"We would like an opportunity to discuss how well-intentioned public policies might nonetheless lead to troubling issues of potential bias, racial profiling, and wrongful prosecution," said an open letter signed by 14 Asian and Chinese Americans groups to Wray.
The Asian community "were shocked, with feelings of both anger and sadness, that anyone would suggest they were a threat to all of American society," the letter said, in reference to Wray's earlier comments describing China's threat as "whole-of society".
Wray singled out Chinese academia, including professors, scientists and students, who he claimed were effective spies.
In response to the accusations, the letter said Asians "contribute to society as entrepreneurs, in every scientific discipline, and at all academic institutions. Foreign students continue to come in this tradition. While here, they add to our academic institutions and deserve fair treatment."
Wray's comments also caused a backlash from legal experts, who said that the accusation mounts to discrimination.
"It is wrong to cast an entire group of students, professors, and scientists as a threat to our country based simply on where they come from," Patrick Toomey, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said.
"The United States has a proud tradition of international academic collaboration, which attracts the best and the brightest to our universities, fosters innovation and ultimately benefits all Americans," Toomey said. "The FBI's mind-set has already led to overzealous investigations of Chinese Americans, with disastrous consequences for those wrongly tarred with suspicion."
Daniel Golden, an investigative journalist who has written on how the FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) infiltrated universities, pointed out that U.S. spy agencies have been using universities to collect intelligence.
"We're trying to recruit some of these Chinese students and professors and use them as spies ourselves," he said. "We're not entirely innocent in this matter."
