The Chinese Academy of Engineering said it is trying to persuade a tobacco expert to give up his membership, but that it has not received his resignation up to now, the Beijing Times reported on Tuesday.

Pan Yunhe, the deputy director of the academy, told the paper that the academy is not able to cancel Xie Jianping's membership.

However, Xie, who sparked controversy among the public and media when he became a member of the academy in December 2011 due to his work in the tobacco research field, is refusing to give up his membership, the report said.

On Feb 28, seven institutions called for an investigation on Xie's academic background, claiming that he is suspected of academic cheating, the report added.