In 2018, the Donald Trump administration launched its China Initiative in the name of rooting out so-called Chinese spies from US universities and research institutes. The program, reminiscent of McCarthyism in the mid-1950s, overwhelmingly targeted academic researchers of Chinese descent — who made up 90 percent of the defendants — for suspected links with the Chinese government, and created a climate of fear among Asian Americans in the United States.
The program was scrapped by the US Justice Department in 2022, partly due to increasing criticism from civil rights groups and academics who claimed the initiative had applied different standards based on race during the probes and was thus tantamount to racial profiling targeting Asian Americans. Moreover, most of the cases brought under the initiative fell apart before trial due to a lack of evidence. Matthew Olsen, assistant attorney-general for the National Security Division, had to admit “this initiative is not the right approach”.
But the damage had been done. The US National Institutes of Health, which led most of the investigations, said earlier this month that as of June 9, a total of 112 scientists targeted by the initiative — mostly of Asian descent — had lost their jobs through dismissals or forced retirements for alleged undisclosed links to Beijing. Monica Bertagnolli, director of the government’s main agency for biomedical and public health research, acknowledged the “difficult climate” its inquiries created, but stopped short of making an apology for those who have been wronged. She only said that the government actions had made many Asian American and Asian research colleagues “feel targeted and alienated”. The failure of the US government to take effective measures to resolve the problem of systemic racial discrimination led to the legitimate rights and interests of scientists of Asian descent being trampled on, and the atmosphere created meant many of them lived in fear amid the increasing violence against those of Asian descent, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hate crime cases targeting the Asian community in the US increased by 76 percent in 2020.
A study conducted by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University and Harvard University last year found that over one-third of the scientists of Chinese descent in the US felt unwelcome in the country, and 72 percent of them felt unsafe. The survey, titled “Caught in the cross fire: Fears of Chinese-American scientists”, pointed to a trend of higher incentives to leave the US and lower incentives to apply for government grants because of fear among the scientists of potential federal investigations since the launch of the China Initiative.
It also warned of “significant loss of talent” in the US.
For more than six decades, the US has been the prime destination of the world’s top scientists who have greatly contributed to the US’ leadership in science.
The perception that the US can put on hold China’s progress in science and technology, either through export controls and sanctions or unwarranted persecution of scientists of Chinese origin in the US, is wrong, and none of the restrictive measures the US has adopted targeting China is likely to achieve its intended purpose. This has been proved by the achievements China has made in recent years in such sectors as power batteries and electric vehicles despite the lasting US crackdown and technology war on Chinese high-tech firms.
In his meeting with visiting US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Thursday, President Xi Jinping said that he hoped the US will see China’s development as an opportunity not a challenge and work to get along with China. In this fast-changing and turbulent world he said, countries need solidarity and coordination, not exclusion or regress.
To maintain its lead on the science and technology front, the US should strive to push itself ahead, rather than trying to keep China down.
