Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson Speaks about China Spy Scandal, Others Address Chinese American Contributions to America
May 12, 1999

By Sam Chu Lin - When Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson spoke to a group of prominent Chinese-Americans and guests at the Committee of 100's national convention in New York City last weekend (April 30), he was ready for fireworks. The participants included Asian Pacific American leaders and scientists, who asked him about the China spy scandal, the firing of Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee, and the stereotyping of Chinese-American scientists as possible spies.

C-Span chronicled the event for a national TV audience while ABC's "Nightline" program examined the impact of this scandal on Asian Pacific Americans.

The DOE secretary reassured the audience he will not tolerate racial profiling of Asian Pacific American employees.

"The Department of Energy has received recently numerous inquiries about the ethnic heritage of the employees at our labs, and the answer we give is: 'We don't distinguish between Americans. Americans are Americans. Period," Richardson declared.

The former UN ambassador acknowledged he had read the March 19 letter sent by the Committee of 100 and four other APA organizations to President Clinton, urging him to "speak out forcefully and clearly" against what they called the "reckless and racist media attacks" directed against the supposed "disloyalty" of many other Americans of Chinese descent.

The letter continued on, "You must not allow all Americans of Chinese descent or any other Asian Americans to be singled out and tainted by this current smear campaign."

"Let me tell you directly," Richardson stated, "I will fight vigorously to insure that does not happen.

"As a Hispanic-American, I'm acquainted with senseless generalizations and stereotypes. I have been hurt too by off-handed bigotry. And it gets me angry because it is attitudes like these that keep America from living its full potential."

While describing his support and admiration for Asian Pacific Americans and their contributions to this country, Richardson tried to explain why he had recommended the termination of Lee. He denied the scientist "was singled out for particular treatment." He stated the 59-year-old Lee has not been charged, but was fired because he allegedly "failed to inform DOE he had made contact with persons from a sensitive country, that he failed to safeguard classified material, and attempted to deceive the lab about security related issues."

During a question-and-answer period, Joel Wong, a scientist from the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, told the energy secretary that Lee's firing had put Chinese-Americans at the labs under a "cloud of suspicion," that senior lab administrators "were not aware of the sensitivity of this matter," and that the rank and file at the labs needed to know about his feelings.

Richardson generated a burst of laughter and applause when he suggested that Wong should be promoted to help communicate his message.

"I pledge to you," he promised, "that I will visit each of the labs to deal exclusively with this issue, to make sure that your concerns are met, that there's no discrimination, and that in effect, the presence of Asian Americans, including your possible promotion, flourishes."

Liu Lee, president of the New York chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans, told Richardson many people in the APA community believe Wen Ho Lee's legal rights have been trampled on, and there are fears other Chinese Americans could be treated the same way.

"If one individual's rights are not protected, I don't think anyone else's rights is protected," he stated. "Wen Ho Lee has already been tried. His reputation is permanently stained."

Crediting leaks "from everywhere in the government," Richardson admitted that is a problem. "I have strained not to even say his name," he commented. "Until he is formally charged, he has the right to preserve his anonymity. That is obviously destroyed, and we have to be sensitive to it."

George Koo, a Committee of 100 director, blamed partisan politics for "demonizing China" and for dragging Chinese Americans into the fray, whether it be over campaign finance or the China spy scandal.

He asked Richardson to take a message back to the White House. "If we can get the President to make similar strong statements as you have," Koo stated, "it will greatly alleviate and clear up the understanding to the general public." Richardson agreed it was a "good suggestion," and the audience applauded.

Following his speech, Richardson met privately with several of the Chinese-American scientists from the top secret labs.

Raymond Ng, a mechanical engineer who works with the development of new weapons at the Sandias National Laboratory, cited examples of how the scandal has impacted Chinese-American lab employees.

Ng told Richardson, "They think they are suspected, rather than respected. They're being teased: 'We can't talk about this, because that (Chinese-American) individual is in this room, and he might turn over that information (to the Chinese).' Another person was teased, 'He made a lot of money recently. He must have sold some secrets.' Other people have been told, 'Because that professor has a Chinese surname, you probably shouldn't continue that contract with the university.' "

Wong, who is in regular contact with his Chinese-American colleagues at Los Alamos, commented, "Many of the workers there now feel intimidated. Those that have spoken up have said the working environment is not very favorable to Asian Americans. For example, a lady said her boss, who was transferring to another site, told her he was not able to take her along, 'because of characteristic issues (she is Chinese-American).' "

During the two-day conference, other speakers commented about the China spy scandal and its implications, including Democratic presidential hopeful, former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley. He criticized those congressional representatives who are trying to terminate scientific exchange visits between the two countries.

"I think it would be a tremendous mistake to break off relations with China or decrease exchanges with China," Bradley commented. "I think one of the most important and hopeful aspects of the relationships since 1979 have been the hundreds of thousands of Chinese and Americans who have spent time in each other's countries."

He continued on, "I think when there is espionage that is proven, regardless of the race of that individual, that person has to be punished severely. But I think it would be a big mistake to try to cast dispersions on anyone because they are a Chinese American."

During the Committee of 100's gala banquet, keynote speaker Charles B. Wang, founder and CEO of Computer Associates International business software, emphasized to a crowd of 400 people the importance of "improving diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations among the United States, China, and Taiwan."

Wang, who narrowly escaped death in a hotel fire in Cologne, Germany days earlier, said, "This is especially important in today's climate of a more pervasive anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States. Just last year even my company Computer Associates became a victim of this kind of racism when we attempted to acquire Computer Science Corporation." A "security problem" was cited as the main reason for the denial.

He added, "Now more than ever, we must continue to be ever vigilant and defend the best of what we Chinese-Americans can contribute to our great country. We cannot let our guard down for even one moment and accept racism in any form."