Opinion | How China is winning the war with the US for scientific hearts and minds

Anson Au says the Trump administration’s anti-Chinese and anti-science biases are producing policies and a working environment that are pushing away talent in research and development, and it is China that will benefit

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Published: 4:15pm, 24 Jun 2018Updated: 4:35pm, 24 Jun 2018

Xenophobia and racial discrimination have taken centre stage in the US amid a whirlwind of political decisions made by the Trump administration. And, as trade tensions between China and the US escalate, a proxy war of sorts between the two contesting rivals is already being fought elsewhere: in academia.

Citing fears of “intellectual property theft”, US authorities have announced plans to limit Chinese graduate students in certain fields to one-year visas. In the past, five-year visas could be obtained that would typically cover the time taken to earn a PhD; a one-year visa, by contrast, is hardly enough even for a master’s degree.

But this is nothing new. In fact, it only highlights the long-standing problem of discrimination against Asians in academia.

In a recent social experiment, professors in Germany were sent hundreds of identical requests for doctoral supervision from Chinese-sounding names purporting to be from several universities, including Pennsylvania State University and the National University of Singapore. US-based candidates were three times as likely to receive additional information in responses, and twice as likely to be given a warm, excited response or addressed by their first name.

In the US, this discrimination has taken on political overtones.

Earlier this year, it was reported that the White House had begun discussing measures to actively bar Chinese people from being a part of “sensitive” research at American institutions over fears of leaking intellectual secrets. More than discrimination, US-based Chinese academics have also been the target of claims of espionage.