U of Waterloo Prof Reportedly Having Adviser Role at US-Sanctioned Chinese University Says He Is ‘Not Aware’ of This Position

University of Waterloo professor Xuemin Shen is seen in a 2019 photograph receiving an “appointment letter” from a leading university in China that has been identified for its ties to the Chinese military. However, the professor denies having any position at that university. That school is the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), whose main campus is in China’s northernmost Heilongjiang Province. HIT is on the U.S. Entity List, a sanctions list maintained by the U.S. Commerce Department. In the photo, Mr. Shen is seen receiving a certificate titled “appointment letter” in Chinese from HIT VP Zhen Liang.  The photo is featured in an August 2019 news release from HIT’s Shenzhen campus in China’s Guangdong Province. The words “Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen,” in both Chinese and English, can be seen on the wall behind the two men....