US-China tensions played no part in death of renowned Stanford professor Zhang Shoucheng

South China Morning Post ^ | 12/11/2018 | William Zheng

[SeekAndFind]

The family of Stanford professor Zhang Shoucheng, a world-renowned physicist and venture capitalist, denied speculation on Chinese social media that his death was connected to tensions in US-China relations or the arrest of Huawei’s CFO in Canada on Saturday.

Zhang, a tenured professor of physics at Stanford University, was internationally recognised for his work in quantum science. He was also the founding partner of Danhua Capital, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund investing mainly in early-stage technologies.

Zhang died on Saturday, December 1, according to his family. He was 55.

“There is no police investigation, and the authorities have no suspicions about Professor Zhang’s death,” a representative for the family said. “You will read that he committed suicide, and this is true. But you will also read in the family statement that he had periodic bouts with depression.”

Many rumours circulated on Chinese social media about his death, some trying to build links between his death to a possible US government investigation under Section 301 of US trade law into Zhang’s Danhua Capital and even stretching to connect it to the arrest of Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou on the same day.

“There is no truth to this uninformed speculation,”the family representative said in an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post.

”I would like to take the opportunity to refute speculation connecting Professor Zhang’s death and tensions in US-China relations or any other event. It is true Danhua was mentioned in a 301 report, but there was no investigation or any other activity as a result of this mention.”

In 2013, Zhang set up Danhua Capital, also known as Digital Horizon Capital, to focus on funding artificial intelligence, big data, robotics, and blockchain technology, among other things.

[billorites]

Quantum physicist possibly dead.

[BeauBo]

Maybe the Chinese Government doesn’t want to risk losing his unique technical expertise, so he won’t be allowed to travel anymore, and he will be working on a secret “Manhattan Project”-like effort for quantum computing effort.

In any event, because of the strategic value of the technology he was specialized in, Chinese Intelligence Services were no doubt so far up his @ss that they could see daylight through the other end.