Science knows no borders. But if it does, the United States has a lot to thank China for in helping to build its global tech supremacy. More than 10 per cent of US inventions today are made by scientists of ethnic Chinese origin, according to research in a recent book by Harvard professor William R. Kerr. And most of the artificial intelligence scientists in the US who are immigrants came from China, according to research by think tank MacroPolo. Collectively known as scientists “with Chinese origin”, they are a core building block of the US technology ecosystem and a group that is facing increased scrutiny in the US due to concerns over possible espionage. “The policies of the Trump administration to weaken Chinese talent for America are foolish,” said Kerr, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School and the author of the The Gift of Global Talent . “The United States needs to ensure good intellectual property protection, but efforts to isolate and diminish the Chinese talent component can have long-term negative consequences for our country,” he said. Trade war sees US losing Chinese students to UK, Canada and Australia How to protect intellectual property without scaring away some of the world’s top talent is a major challenge for the Trump administration as many of China’s best and brightest currently contribute a great deal to US innovation, and they are now caught in the middle of the raging US-China tech war. Chinese talent, especially those who study and work in sensitive technology fields, have had to deal with shorter visa times, delays and even denials of visa requests in the US. China’s Education Ministry issued a warning on Monday about the risks of studying in the US, urging students and academics to “raise their risk assessment” after visa denial rates soared. Some Chinese researchers have been denied access to certain research facilities. In mid May, Georgia-based Emory University abruptly dismissed two Chinese-American professors due to alleged undisclosed funding ties with China. China issues official warning to students hoping to go to US Some of the targeted US measures are considered “necessary to punish wrongful behaviour and prevent future violations”, wrote Cheng Yangyang, a particle physicist and a postdoctoral research associate at Cornell University, in her monthly column Science and China, published on digital media title SupChina at the end of May. But recent US moves have prompted fears in the Chinese-American community due to “the appearance of racial profiling and the potential rekindling of ‘Yellow Peril’,” wrote Cheng, declining to comment further when reached by the Post . Doors slam shut on Chinese students amid US espionage fears For decades, educational exchanges have been a strong point in forging closer ties between China and the US. The surge in Chinese students and scientists has boosted diversity at American universities. Their skills and hard work have helped bolster the research credentials of US universities – not to mention the tax dollars contributed to the US economy. According to Harvard’s Kerr, talent inflows have reshaped US innovation in advanced technology sectors with contributions from immigrants in sectors from computer science to biotech increasing dramatically over the past 40 years. People with Chinese ethnicity, many of whom are immigrants, account for slightly more than 10 per cent of US inventions, a big increase from 5 per cent in 2005. But the Trump administration appears to have decided that this is now a zero-sum game – and that academics from nations under suspicion should be kept out of areas of hi-tech research and development. Scientists and students with Chinese origin are seen by some US politicians as agents of Beijing, helping China to “steal its way up the economic ladder” at the United States’ expense. “China has pioneered a societal approach to stealing innovation in any way it can, from a wide array of businesses, universities and organisations,” said Christopher Wray, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in April. To be sure, there have been some high profile espionage cases. In September 2018, a Chinese electrical engineering student named Ji Chaoqun was arrested in the US and accused of acting as an “illegal agent” on the direction of a “high-level [Chinese] intelligence officer” in the Jiangsu Province Ministry of State Security, according to the US Department of Justice. Will Trump’s assault on Huawei create a digital iron curtain? An email Ji sent to a Chinese national two years ago allegedly contained background reports on eight US-based individuals that Beijing could target for potential recruitment as spies. As such, there has been rising concern within the FBI that US universities have become soft targets for foreign intelligence services to access emerging technologies in “non-traditional” ways. These fears have increased as a growing number of Chinese scientists and students in recent years – known as sea turtles – have returned to the motherland after years of study and work in the US. Sea turtles is a homophone for a Chinese term denoting overseas returnees. Of the Chinese students who had earned PhDs in the United States around 2003, 86 per cent of them were still in the US in 2013. But that trend has changed in recent years. According to the latest data from China’s Ministry of Education, nearly 5.86 million Chinese studied overseas from 1978 to the end of 2018. Among them, over 1.53 million are still in the process of studying and conducting research overseas, but about 85 per cent of the remainder who have already completed their studies chose to pursue a job in China. “Years ago, if you were an engineer, you probably couldn’t find any decent jobs in China,” said Matt Sheehan, a fellow at MacroPolo, the in-house think tank of the Paulson Institute in Chicago. “ But now, China is richer, the tech ecosystem is better. Many graduates return from Silicon Valley because if they want to set up start-ups, there would be no better place than China where they know the language and culture.” According to MacroPolo’s latest research, the US is still the most attractive destination for China’s top talent both for study and work. In the field of AI, where the US and China are locked in a race for global dominance, about a quarter of the top 20 per cent of AI research talent in the world are Chinese-born. Among them, nearly 60 cent are currently affiliated with US institutions for work or study. “But these trends – particularly for where Chinese-born researchers go to school and work – are heavily influenced by policy changes and the overall climate between the Chinese and American technology ecosystems,” said Sheehan, adding the current climate is likely to accelerate the returning trend of Chinese scientists and students. China has launched several State-sponsored programs, including the controversial Thousand Talent Plan, to lure foreign-trained top talent with generous packages, from research funding to tax cuts. The programs form part of China’s bolstered efforts to cut reliance on foreign technologies following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s repeated calls for “indigenous innovation” in core technologies since taking power in 2012. Another US college calls time on research collaboration with Huawei “The US universities are still superior in both education and research. Best minds attract the best. But the current trade/tech war will have a big psychological impact on Chinese students and scholars working in the US,” said Junhui Qian, a professor at Antai College of Economics and Management with Shanghai Jiao Tong University. “China will become even more attractive when they think about their future career. In this sense, the Trump administration is actually helping China and damaging US interests,” said Qian, who is also a sea turtle himself as he returned to China after obtaining a PhD degree in economics from Rice University in Texas. One of China’s top schools, Jinan University, has already offered to take in the two Chinese-American professors who were sacked by Emory University. Song Xianzhong, president of Jinan University in Guangzhou, said in late May that his college would welcome Li Xiaojiang and his wife, Li Shihua, as well as their research team, if they wanted to return to China. The Lis have served as visiting professors at Jinan University’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Institute for CNS Regeneration since 2017. “The trade frictions between China and the US are bound to affect talent,” Song said. “We believe [Chinese] universities can hire [academics affected by the conflict] and they can contribute to social and economic development if they decide to come back.” Nevertheless, even if they are welcomed back by China, many Chinese scientists working in the US today may feel conflicted about returning home. “For Chinese scientists who emigrated to the US, where do their hearts and bodies belong?,” Cheng asked in one of her columns. “In their home country, where an authoritarian government is increasing its hold on society, aided by technology for surveillance and censorship? Or in a country whose president actively rejects them, where they are painted as spies?”