Don’t let politics dominate scientific research
China Daily
Chinese and US flags flutter outside the building of an American company in Beijing. [Photo/Agencies]
China and the United States are arguably each other’s No 1 partners in scientific research, with collaborative research between people of both countries being among the most-cited papers across fields.
This is what Ohio State University Professor Caroline Wagner told The Wall Street Journal after going through London-based Clarivate firm’s database. This should not surprise anyone, considering the tremendous progress Chinese researchers in science have made since the adoption of reform and opening-up in 1978.
As two of the largest nations in terms of scientific research, scientists from China and the US naturally have good collaboration, without which it would be impossible for either side to have achieved so much.
This has been despite US politicians’ attempts to “decouple” and “de-risk” from China in all sectors, including scientific research. Chinese-American scientists are even subject to witch-hunting in the US.But subjecting scientific cooperation between Chinese and US scientists to political interference will only harm science.
Turning away from its No 1 partner in scientific research will harm the US’ interests. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports that the number of Chinese-American scientists who chose to return to China has risen from 900 in 2010 to 2,621 in 2021, while the number of US students in China in the latest academic year is only 350, both of which are weakening the US’ talent foundation of research.
As the biggest destination of global talent flow since the end of World War II, the US well knows the importance of talents for research and the grave consequences of losing them.
By rejecting Chinese scientists only because of the country they come from, the US is also hindering academic exchanges with China, thus preventing its own progress. In one word, the world’s only superpower is hurting its biggest collaborator at its own peril.
No one knows when it will correct that wrong.
