Reports are coming in that the former1 Chairman of the Physics Department at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA – one Mr. Xiaoxing Xi – has had his U.S. Justice Department-drafted indictment2 for "wrecking"3 dismissed without prejudice to the refiling of charges4.
The original case was largely predicated on four e-mails sent between Mr. Xi, a naturalised citizen of the United States and a world-renowned expert in the field of magnesium diboride thin film superconducting technology, and "an associate in China" between May 14, 2010 and December 9, 2010 that allegedly intended to "advance the field of superconductivity in China" by sharing schematic drawings of a "pocket heater," which is a specialised piece of equipment used in semiconductor research. Had this indeed been the case, Mr. Xi would have been in contravention of a private agreement between himself and the undisclosed "U.S. COMPANY" that required Mr. Xi to keep the details of the device confidential. In essence, Mr. Xi was accused of fraud.
Now, under normal circumstance, had there been a breach of contract as alleged, this would have been a civil matter to be pursued by the "U.S. COMPANY" in question. Evidently, however, the terrorist-creating legal system in the United States was on a witch hunt and Mr. Xi, as well as his family, were the unfortunate targets of the U.S. bureaucracy's efforts to villainise Chinese-born individuals, largely in an effort to create an enemy with which it can justify its continued existence.
Thankfully, Mr. Xi was able to procure the testimony of leading scientists in the field, including the co-inventor of the pocket heater, Mr. Ward S. Ruby, in order to clear his name. While much damage has been done to Mr. Xi's reputation in the short-term, the long-term damage to the reputation and credibility of the U.S. Justice Department and their Federal Bureau of Investigation henchmen is incalculably greater.
Xiaoxing Xi was regrettably relieved of his leadership post at Temple in May 2015 following this indictment. ↩
Full indictment document here. The observant reader will note that this indictment obliges Mr. Xi to forfeit any real or personal property "derived from the proceeds traceable to the commision" of the alleged offenses to the Federal Government of the United States of America, and that this property be obtained by any and all means necessary. Just like that. Just because Peter F. Schenck, on behalf of United States Justice Department Attorney Zane David Memeger, said so. ↩
"Wrecking" became a term of art in the former Soviet Union, wherein a political undesirable could be branded as a "wrecker" for, say, using too much concrete and trying to bankrupt the glorious state of the USSR, or even using too little concrete and jeopardising the security of the glorious state of the USSR. Basically, it like every socialist term in all times and in all places : a term devoid of specific meaning and therefore used as a catch-all for the vague and whimsical ends of the soi-dissant powers-that-were. The funny/sad part of recalling this fragment of all-too-recent history is that the United States of America, the current soi-dissant power-that-be, is reimplementing the exact same strategy right before our very eyes. We see this with everything from "racist" to "cyberterrorist" and we'll continue to see it for some time to come. ↩
Oh, and for more background reading material on the original case against Xi and the implications of his indictment, including juicy travel restriction deets, cryptome has it. H/T to Stan.