A group of professors at Stanford University, a renowned U.S. university based in California, have urged the federal government to end the prejudiced "China Initiative," which they said has created racial profiling and harmed America's ability to attract talents and innovate.

In an open letter signed by more than 170 Stanford faculty members and made public on Monday, they wrote to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to express their concerns about the controversial program, launched in late 2018 by the previous administration as part of its efforts to smear China.

"It is harming the United States' research and technology competitiveness and it is fueling biases that, in turn, raise concerns about racial profiling," read the letter, while asking that the "China Initiative" be terminated.

"The China Initiative disproportionally targets researchers of Chinese origin," the Stanford professors pointed out. "Publicly available information indicates that investigations are often triggered not by any evidence of wrongdoing, but just because of a researcher's connections with China."

They noted that since World War II, the United States has benefited from an influx of talented scientists from around the world, including a large number from China.

The "China Initiative" and some other actions of the federal government over the past few years have created "an increasingly hostile atmosphere" for Chinese Americans, visitors, and immigrants of Chinese origin, the faculty members stressed. "This seriously hampers our efforts to recruit the best Chinese students and postdoctoral scholars."

"Such actions are based on a significant misunderstanding of how scientific research works. They are detrimental to international collaboration. Instead of protecting the national security of the U.S., we believe such actions harm the U.S.'s ability to innovate," they added. 

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