China mutes volume on Thousand Talents Plan as US spy concerns rise but scientists still covet funding
- TTP has added to US concerns over potential espionage threats from China after several of the programme’s Chinese scientists were arrested
- To reverse a perceived brain drain, the Chinese government has launched several policies to encourage the return of overseas-educated Chinese students
Australian quantum physicist Tim Byrnes happily accepted a faculty post to work in China about five years ago, swapping the barbecue for dumplings.
But for someone whose work is based on observing nature at the smallest scale of energy levels and atoms, it came as something of a surprise to find himself in the middle of a clash between two much bigger powers – namely the US and China over trade and technology.
His position as assistant professor of physics at New York University Shanghai and research funding of at least one million yuan (US$146,000) from the Chinese government, has now put the 42-year-old in what he calls an “interesting position”.
Byrnes received the funding as a member of the Thousand Talents Plan (TTP), China’s flagship recruitment programme to hire some of the world’s brightest minds to contribute to Chinese president Xi Jinping’s desire to build an innovation-led economy.
Set up 10 years ago by Beijing as part of the country’s drive to build world-leading capacity in key tech sectors, such as robotics and aerospace, the TTP has added to US concerns over potential espionage threats from China after several of the programme’s Chinese scientists were arrested in the US on accusations of technology theft.
“It is hard to say what the impact is at the moment,” said the Shanghai-based Byrnes in an interview. “I don’t know if this [being a member of China’s TTP] is going to impact me if I want to apply for research funding in the US in the future – we will all have to wait and see.”