[DiogenesKynikos]

He didn't "lie and cover-up his connections with a Chinese university."

His "connections" were extremely minimal and not relevant to any of his grant applications, so he wasn't required to disclose them.

> That is why this case was brought to trial.

This case was brought to trial because Tao is Asian, and the Trump administration put out an order to local FBI offices to find Chinese spies in academia. In other words, Tao was swept up in a racist witch hunt. If he were a white European, there is precisely 0% chance that he would have been investigated and prosecuted for these sorts of minimal "connections" to a European university.