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| BOSTON — Federal prosecutors on Thursday dropped the government’s charges against Gang Chen, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in a high-profile setback to the China Initiative, a nearly three-year-old government effort intended to stop scientists from passing sensitive technology to China. | 波士顿——联邦检察官周四撤销了政府对麻省理工学院机械工程教授陈刚的指控，这是“中国计划”一次引人注目的挫折。“中国计划”是一项近三年的政府努力，旨在阻止科学家向中国传递敏感技术。 |
| Dr. Chen was arrested on Jan. 14, 2021, during President Donald J. Trump’s last full week in office, and charged with a form of grant fraud, hiding his affiliations with Chinese government institutions in applications for $2.7 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2017. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges. | 陈刚博士于2021年1月14日被捕，那是特朗普总统任期的最后一个完整的星期。陈刚被指控犯有某种形式的拨款欺诈，在2017年向美国能源部申请270万美元拨款时隐瞒了自己与中国政府机构的关系。他对所有指控都不认罪。 |
| Prosecutors submitted a motion to dismiss those charges on Thursday morning, stating that the government “can no longer meet its burden of proof at trial.” Judge Patti B. Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts allowed the dismissal shortly before noon. | 检方周四上午提交了一份动议，要求撤回这些指控，称政府“在审判中无法再承担举证责任”。美国马萨诸塞州地区法院法官帕蒂·萨里斯在快到中午的时候批准了撤诉。 |
| Dr. Chen’s arrest was front-page news in Boston, a hub of scientific research. It was met with protest from many of Dr. Chen’s colleagues in academia, who said prosecutors had overreached, blurring the line between grant disclosure violations and more serious crimes like espionage or intellectual property theft. | 在科学研究的中心波士顿，陈刚的被捕成了大新闻。陈刚在学界的许多同事对此表示抗议，他们表示，检方的做法过分了，模糊了违反申请拨款披露规定与间谍活动或窃取知识产权等更严重犯罪之间的界限。 |
| In recent weeks, officials at the Department of Energy have told prosecutors that the department would have awarded the grant money to Dr. Chen even if he had disclosed the Chinese ties, calling into question the basis of the charges, according to people familiar with the matter. | 据知情人士透露，最近几周，美国能源部的官员告诉检察官，即使陈刚披露了与中国的关系，能源部也会将这笔赠款拨给他。这让人对指控的依据产生质疑。 |
| “Today is a great day,” said Dr. Chen’s lawyer, Robert Fisher. “The government finally acknowledged what we have said all along: Professor Gang Chen is an innocent man. Our defense was never based on any legal technicalities. Our defense was this: Gang did not commit any of the offenses he was charged with. Full stop.” | “今天是个重要的日子，”陈刚的律师罗伯特·费舍尔说。“政府终于承认了我们一直以来所说的：陈刚教授是无辜的。我们的辩护从未基于任何法律技术细节。我们的辩护是这样的：陈刚没有犯下他被指控的任何罪行。就是这样。” |
| Mr. Fisher credited witnesses who “came forward and told the government how badly they misunderstood the details surrounding scientific and academic collaboration,” saying “without them this case would likely still be ongoing.” | 费舍尔感谢那些“站出来告诉政府，他们对科学和学术合作的细节存在严重误解”的证人，并表示“如果没有他们，这个案子很可能还在进行中”。 |
| A statement from Rachael S. Rollins, who was sworn in this month as the new U.S. attorney in Boston, said the decision to withdraw the case was made after prosecutors “obtained additional information pertaining to the materiality of Professor Chen’s alleged omissions in the context of the grant review process in this case.” | 本月宣誓就职波士顿新任联邦检察官的蕾切尔·罗林斯在声明中表示，在检察官“获得陈教授谓之遗漏，与本案资助审查过程实质有关的额外信息”之后，决定撤回该案件。 |
| “We understand that our charging decisions deeply impact people’s lives,” Ms. Rollins said. “As United States Attorney, I will always encourage the prosecutors in our office to engage in this type of rigorous and continued review at every stage of a proceeding. Today’s dismissal is a result of that process and is in the interests of justice.” | “我们明白，我们的指控决定深深影响着人们的生活，”罗林斯说。 “作为联邦检察官，我将始终鼓励我们办公室的检察官在诉讼的每一个阶段进行这种严格和持续的审查。今天的撤诉是这一过程的结果，符合正义的利益。” |
| The move for dismissal comes as the Justice Department is reviewing the China Initiative, an effort launched under the Trump administration which has come under criticism for singling out scientists of Chinese heritage and for chilling the atmosphere for collaborative research. | 撤诉行动发生在司法部正在审查“中国计划”之际，该行动由特朗普政府发起，因特别针对华裔科学家、破坏合作研究的气氛而受到批评。 |
| Wyn Hornbuckle, a spokesman for the Department of Justice, said last week that the department was “reviewing our approach to countering threats posed by the P.R.C. government,” referring to China. | 司法部发言人温·霍恩巴克尔上周表示，司法部正在“评估我们应对中国政府构成威胁的方式”。 |
| “We anticipate completing the review and providing additional information in the coming weeks,” he said. | “我们预计在未来几周内完成评估，并提供更多信息，”他说。 |
| The initiative has resulted in numerous grant fraud cases against academic researchers — around a dozen appear on the department’s website — and pleas and convictions, including last month’s conviction of the Harvard chemist Charles Leiber. | 该动议导致了大量针对学术研究人员的拨款欺诈案件（大约有十多起案件出现在司法部的网站上）以及认罪和定罪，包括上个月对哈佛大学的化学家查尔斯·利伯的定罪。 |
| But the first case to reach the trial stage, against Anming Hu, a professor of engineering at the University of Tennessee, ended in acquittal last September, after a judge ruled that the government had not presented sufficient evidence that Dr. Hu had intended to defraud funding agencies. The Justice Department has dismissed seven cases against researchers in recent months. | 但首个进入审判阶段的案件，是针对田纳西大学工程学教授胡安明的案件。去年9月，法官裁定政府没有提供足够证据证明胡安明有意诈骗资助机构，宣告他无罪。最近几个月，司法部撤销了七起针对研究人员的案件。 |
| The case against Dr. Chen, a naturalized U.S. citizen since 2000, is the most prominent one to be dismissed to date, targeting an elite scientist who had robust support from his university. | 陈刚自2000年以来一直是美国入籍公民，这起案件针对的是一名得到校方大力支持的精英科学家，是迄今为止撤销的案件中最重要的一起。 |
| At a news conference the morning of Dr. Chen’s arrest, Andrew E. Lelling, then the federal prosecutor in Boston, said that “the allegations of the complaint imply that this was not just about greed, but about loyalty to China.” Joseph R. Bonavolanta, the F.B.I. special agent in charge in Boston, said that Dr. Chen “knowingly and willingly defrauded at least $19 million in federal grants.” | 在陈刚被捕当天上午的新闻发布会上，时任波士顿联邦检察官的安德鲁·莱林说，“对此案的指控意味着，这不仅关乎贪婪，还关乎对中国的忠诚。”负责波士顿事务的联邦调查局特工约瑟夫·博纳瓦兰塔说，陈刚“在知情和自愿的情况下，骗取了至少1900万美元的联邦拨款”。 |
| When charges were filed five days later, though, they were more limited in scope. | 不过，当五天后提起指控时，范围缩小了。 |
| Dr. Chen was charged with two counts of wire fraud, for failing to disclose seven affiliations to the Department of Energy while applying for a $2.7 million grant to study heat conduction in polymer structures and in a subsequent progress report. The affiliations included serving as a “fourth overseas expert consultant” to the Chinese government, a “review expert” for the National Natural Science Foundation of China and an adviser to the Chinese Scholarship Council, among others. | 陈刚被指控犯有两项电信诈骗罪，在为聚合物结构热传导研究申请270万美元的拨款时，以及在随后的进度报告中，没有向能源部披露七项学术联系。这些联系包括担任中国政府的“第四届海外专家顾问”、中国国家自然科学基金的“评审专家”和中国留学基金委的顾问等。 |
| He was also charged with failing to declare a Chinese bank account containing more than $10,000, and with making false statements to government officials in his grant disclosures. | 他还被控没有申报一个包含1万多美元的中国银行账户，并在拨款披露中向政府官员做出虚假陈述。 |
| In recent conversations, officials at the Department of Energy told prosecutors the affiliations Dr. Chen failed to declare would not have prevented the agency from extending the grant money, according to two people familiar with the matter. | 据两名知情人士透露，能源部官员在最近的谈话中告诉检察官，陈晓没有申报的学术关联不会妨碍能源部延长拨款。 |
| The case was rushed in its final stages, which came in the hectic days after the Jan. 6 riot and before President Biden was sworn in, according to a few former officials, who requested anonymity to speak about an ongoing case. The department’s National Security Division had around 48 hours to review the indictment before Dr. Chen’s arrest, unusual given the high-profile nature of the case, the officials said. | 据几名要求匿名谈论在审案件的前官员说，该案在最后阶段很仓促，是在1月6日骚乱之后和拜登总统宣誓就职之前的紧张日子里进行的。这些官员说，在陈刚被捕之前，司法部的国家安全司只有大约48小时的时间审查起诉书，考虑到此案受关注的程度，这是不寻常的。 |
| In a statement, Mr. Fisher, Dr. Chen’s attorney, a partner at Nixon Peabody, said the scientist had not withheld commitments in China from the government. | 陈博士的律师、尼克松·皮博迪律师事务所的合伙人费舍尔在声明中说，这位科学家并未向政府隐瞒自己在中国获得的委任。 |
| “He was never in a talent program,” Mr. Fisher said. “He was never an overseas scientist for Beijing. He disclosed everything he was supposed to disclose and he never lied to the government or anyone else.” | “他从未参加过人才计划，”费舍尔说。“他从来不是北京的海外科学家。他披露了他应该披露的一切，他从来没有对政府或其他任何人撒谎。” |
| Biden officials have met with representatives from the China Initiative’s sharpest critics, Asian American rights groups and universities, to discuss possible changes to the program. | 拜登官员已经会见了对“中国计划”最尖锐的批评者、亚裔美国人权利团体和大学的代表，讨论对该计划可能做出的改变。 |
| In the coming weeks, the name “China Initiative” may be dropped, and the cases may no longer be packaged as a distinct group, but reabsorbed into the caseload of the department’s National Security Division, according to current and former Justice Department officials. After initial discussion of offering amnesty in the pending grant fraud cases, officials are leaning toward resolving the cases individually, the officials said. | 据现任和前任司法部官员称，未来几周，“中国计划”这个名字可能取消，这些案件可能不再被打包为一个单独的组，而是重新归入司法部国家安全司的案件量中。官员们表示，在初步讨论了对未决的拨款欺诈案提供特赦之后，他们倾向于逐一解决这些案件。 |
| Among those urging the Justice Department to back away from prosecutions based on grant disclosures is Mr. Lelling himself, now in private practice in Boston. | 莱林本人便是敦促司法部放弃基于拨款披露起诉的人之一，他现在在波士顿执业。 |
| In a post on LinkedIn last month, he wrote that he believed the China Initiative had been intended to combat espionage but had “drifted and, in some significant ways, lost its focus.” | 上个月，他在领英上的一篇帖子中写道，他认为“中国计划”旨在打击间谍活动，但“偏离了方向，并且在某些重要方面失去了重点”。 |
| “You don’t want people to be scared of collaboration,” he said in an interview. “There’s no question, on the academic side, the China Initiative has created a climate of fear among researchers. That is one reason why D.O.J. should step back a bit.” | “你不希望人们害怕合作，”他在接受采访时说。“毫无疑问，在学术方面，‘中国计划’在研究人员中营造了一种恐惧气氛。这就是为什么司法部应该退后一点。” |
| He added, however, that prosecutions of academics had done some good, prompting research scientists to be far more transparent about their Chinese funding. | 然而，他还说，对学者的起诉起到了某些作用，促使研究人员更加透明地披露他们的中国资助。 |
| “If you were looking for general deterrence, it has been achieved in spades — we have terrified the entire research community,” he said. “What is deterrence? You don’t speed because you’re afraid of getting a ticket. Deterrence is about fear.” | “如果你想要达到普遍的威慑，它已经充分实现了——我们已经吓坏了整个研究界，”他说。“什么是威慑？你不超速是因为你害怕被开罚单。威慑是关于恐惧的。” |
| Friends and colleagues say the prosecution had a profound effect on Dr. Chen, who served as the director of M.I.T.’s department of mechanical engineering, a position that required him to raise money overseas for a range of university research projects. | 麻省理工学院机械工程系主任陈刚博士的朋友和同事说，起诉对陈刚博士产生了很大的影响，这个职位要求他为一系列大学研究项目从海外筹集资金。 |
| “Questioning his loyalty is an outrage, and reminds us of dark periods in history,” read a letter published last year by 25 current and former M.I.T. faculty members. It went on to say that there were “many M.I.T. faculty and students of Chinese heritage who feel targeted, fearful, and intimidated.” | “质疑他的忠诚令人愤怒，而且让我们想起了历史上的黑暗时期，”25名现任和前任麻省理工学院教职员工去年发表的一封信中写道。信中还说，有“许多麻省理工学院的华裔教职员工和学生感到被针对、害怕和被恐吓”。 |
| A GoFundMe page posted shortly after Dr. Chen’s arrest by his daughter, Karen, raised $400,000 in three days. She wrote on the page that unused funds would be donated to charitable organizations assisting other scientists facing prosecution. | 陈刚博士被逮捕后不久，他的女儿凯伦发布的GoFundMe页面在三天内筹集了40万美元。她在页面上写道，未使用的资金将捐赠给慈善组织，帮助其他面临起诉的科学家。 |
| “My dad is resolved to fight these charges because of the danger they represent to the broader academic community and all Chinese Americans,” she wrote. | “我父亲决心与这些指控作斗争，因为它们对更广泛的学界和所有华裔美国人构成了危险，”她写道。 |
| Yoel Fink, an M.I.T. professor who helped organize the letter-writing campaign, said the dismissal of the charges against Dr. Chen “raises real questions about the use of these weapons we’ve given law enforcement, and whether the use of these weapons is justified.” | 麻省理工学院的约尔·芬克教授帮助组织了公开信行动，他说，对陈博士指控的撤回“引发了一些本质问题，即执法部门如何使用我们赋予它的这些武器，以及使用上是否合理”。 |
| “These are very potent weapons,” he said. “Any one of us, if those weapons are turned on you, you disintegrate. What questions can we now ask? What types of reckoning, what type of accountability, can we expect when innocent people are hurt by these weapons?” | “这些都是非常强大的武器，”他说。“任何一个人被这样的武器对准都会崩溃。我们现在可以提出什么样的问题？当无辜的人受到这些武器的伤害时，我们可以期待什么样的清算，什么样的问责？” |
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