China has also lost at least nine top scientists working in military AI, hypersonics, and space defense under what might be considered suspicious circumstances — including an AI professor who died in a 2 a.m. car crash that state media called a "sacrifice" while he was war-gaming Taiwan invasion scenarios. Newsweek has published an extensive report on the dead Chinese scientists.
The Core Question
Newsweek investigations reporter Didi Kirsten Tatlow raises a serious question that military analysts are now quietly asking: Is there a black-ops "scientist war" underway between the United States and China? The article documents at least nine Chinese scientists and defense researchers who have died since 2018 — a pattern strikingly similar to the 11 or 12 American cases now under investigation by the FBI and Congress.
The Case That Started It
The most prominent example in the Newsweek report is Feng Yanghe, 38, a professor at China's National University of Defense Technology, who died in an early morning car crash in Beijing on July 1, 2023.
Feng had won national competitions with his classified "War Skull" AI platform and was war-gaming Taiwan invasion scenarios at the time of his death. State media described him as having been "sacrificed while performing official duties." A Western military analyst fluent in Chinese told Newsweek that the description would not normally apply to a car accident victim.
Even more unusual: Feng was buried at Babaoshan, Beijing's elite cemetery reserved for Communist Party heroes, state martyrs, and revolutionary figures. The analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity, called both details "very odd."
The Broader Chinese Pattern
The nine cases Newsweek tracked span some of the most strategically sensitive fields in modern defense technology. They include:
Zhang Xiaoxin, 62, a space and weather monitoring expert at the National Satellite Meteorological Centre who won top Chinese military science awards, died in a car accident in December 2024.
Fang Daining, 68, a hypersonics researcher who studied materials for spacecraft and advanced engines at Beijing Institute of Technology, died after a sudden medical episode in South Africa in February 2026.
Yan Hong, 56, a hypersonics expert who previously worked at Wright State University outside Dayton before returning to Northwestern Polytechnical University — which is sanctioned by the U.S. — died in March 2026 following an illness.
Zhang Daibing, 47, one of China's top drone experts and former deputy director of the National University of Defense Technology's Unmanned Systems Research Institute, died in 2025 with no cause of death given.
Zhou Guangyuan, 51, a chemist and member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, died in December 2023 with no cause of death given.
Liu Donghao, 51, a data scientist and pioneer in China's data security management systems, died in 2024 after an unspecified accident.
Li Minyong, 49, a biomedical chemist and Ministry of Education talent awardee, died in November 2025 with no cause of death released.
Chen Shuming, 57, described as the "leader of China's high-end weapon chip research and development team" at the National University of Defense Technology, died in a car accident in 2018.
What Analysts Are Saying
The Western military analyst who spoke to Newsweek noted the deaths concentrate in fields that could shift the global balance of power — hypersonics, military AI, swarming technology simulations, and advanced materials. "These types of tech seem to be overrepresented in the clusters," the analyst said.
The theory isn't necessarily mass assassination — it may be more targeted. "If they take out some of the brightest minds doing path-breaking work, it has a deterrent effect," the analyst said. Some cases will likely prove to be genuine accidents, the analyst added, but the conclusion was pointed: "It's starting to look more and more unusual."
Historical Precedent
The article notes this isn't without precedent. An unknown number of Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated over the years in deaths widely attributed to Israel, in an effort to slow Iran's path to nuclear capability. More Iranian scientists died in Israeli and U.S. bombing strikes as recently as June 2025.
Newsweek is careful to note there is no confirmed evidence that the U.S., China or Russia are engaged in systematic scientist elimination campaigns — but the stakes of the technological competition underway could hardly be higher.
The Chinese Government's Response
The Chinese Embassy in Washington told Newsweek it was "not aware of the relevant situation." A spokesperson added that "China has always been committed to promoting scientific and technological progress through cooperation and healthy competition."
The American Side
The article ties the Chinese pattern directly to the U.S. investigation. Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., told Newsweek the American cases could be connected to "a foreign operation," writing on X: "We are in competition with China, Russia, and Iran on nuclear technology, advanced weapons, and space. Meanwhile, our top scientists keep vanishing."
President Trump called the American cases "pretty serious stuff" while saying he hoped it was a coincidence. The FBI has launched a formal review. No official connections have been confirmed in either country.
The Bottom Line
Taken together, both countries are losing scientists in the same sensitive fields — hypersonics, military AI, nuclear research, space defense — at an unusual rate, with causes of death that are often vague, missing entirely, or oddly described. Whether this represents coincidence, the toll of high-pressure classified work, or something more deliberate remains unconfirmed. But the question Newsweek is asking — and that The Pennant's Gone Dark series has been asking from the American side — is the same: why do the patterns keep pointing in the same direction?