Haipei Xue, president of the National Council of Chinese Americans, said he believes most of the signatures may have come from Chinese citizens, but the White House website is mean to serve US citizens.

"I think the process isn't in order," he said. "Chinese Internet users should seek an answer from the Chinese government first. Anyhow, the petition will have some social influence on the case."

Jerry Zhang, a Chinese engineer who works in the US, said he signed the petition because he believes the family background of the one-time suspect played a part in the investigation.

"Although Chinese netizens aren't witnesses or legal investigators, we want to call for justice since this case has so many suspicious points," he said. "Hopefully, grass-roots voices can bring hope to the victim's family and push the country's justice system to respond."

In April, a graduate student at Shanghai's Fudan University died after prolonged exposure to thallium in a case in which his roommate was considered a suspect. That incident brought the unsolved case of Zhu's poisoning back into the spotlight.

Hai Ming, a Chinese-American lawyer in New York, said that even if the number of signatures reaches the 100,000 threshold within 30 days and the White House responds, the president himself isn't authorized to deport anyone. That kind of decision is up to US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency tasked with investigating and adjudicating immigration cases.

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