Editorial | Challenging times call for collaboration
- Americans have a lot more to lose as the US intensifies its efforts to decouple from China in a world battling a health crisis that cries out for greater cooperation between nations
China’s having been labelled a strategic competitor by US President Donald Trump’s administration inevitably means that all things Chinese are viewed with suspicion. The decoupling that has been gradually taking place is intensifying as November’s presidential elections near, researchers in Texas being the latest casualties and measures being weighed against students.
People and cultural exchanges are a necessity for better understanding and cooperation between nations, but they are also the basis for mutual benefit. Americans have far more to lose than gain through severing links with the world’s second-biggest economy and a fast-rising technological and scientific power.
It is precisely because of the growing financial might and hi-tech achievements of Chinese firms that the United States is trying to shun China. Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other senior officials contend the developments are the result of spying and intellectual property theft from American companies.
No reason has been given by the University of North Texas for ending a scholarship programme linked to the Education Ministry that will force the return home of 15 Chinese postgraduate students, but a similar move occurred in May with restrictions imposed on researchers associated with the People’s Liberation Army.
Confucius Institutes, operated overseas and funded by Beijing to teach Chinese language and culture, have been designated by the US as “foreign missions” for carrying out a “malign influence campaign” and have also been accused of espionage.