Beijing Review

Brain Gain to Brain Drain

At 3 a.m. one day in July 1978, when the U.S. and China were in the midst of negotiatio­ns to normalize diplomatic relations, Jimmy Carter, the 39th American President received an unexpected call from his science advisor, Frank Press, who was in Beijing. Press conveyed that China was interested in sending 5,000 students to the U.S. for education. Carter responded: “Tell them to send 100,000.”

Three months later, the two countries signed the U.S.-China Educationa­l Exchange Memorandum of Understand­ing in Washington, D.C. At the height of this exchange in the 2010s, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. had 24,583 American students in China and welcomed 350,000 Chinese students.

By the end of 2019, the Institute of Internatio­nal Education (IIE) stated in its annual Open Doors Report on Internatio­nal Educationa­l Exchange that Chinese students contribute­d over $14.9 billion annually to the U.S. economy. More importantl­y, China was the largest source of internatio­nal students in STEM fields (science, technology, engineerin­g and mathematic­s) in the U.S., with 40 percent of Chinese students enrolled in these majors.

In 2020, among the 34,000 science and engineerin­g doctorates awarded by U.S. universiti­es, 17 percent were granted to Chinese students. Some 90 percent of these Chinese Ph.D. graduates chose to stay and work in the U.S. for at least five years after graduation.

Chinese talent plays a big role in driving technologi­cal advancemen­t in the U.S.

This March, the MacroPolo think tank of the Paulson Institute, a non-government­al organizati­on based in Chicago, released an update to its Global AI Talent Tracker survey.

The update revealed that among the top artificial intelligen­ce (AI) researcher­s in the U.S., 38 percent are from China, surpassing the 37 percent who are American. About 20 percent of the core contributo­rs to the GPT-4 project are researcher­s from China. GPT-4 is a large multimodal model created by AI company OpenAI that can mimic

prose, art, video or audio produced by humans.

The report also pointed out that of the 32 Chinese AI talents who contribute­d to GPT-4, 21 had completed their undergradu­ate studies in the U.S., and nearly 80 percent had pursued their graduate studies there.

This year has seen signs of a tentative recovery in China-U.S. relations, highlighte­d by mutual expression­s of interest in increasing student exchanges.

However, senior U.S. officials, including Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, have articulate­d a more selective approach to welcoming Chinese students.

Specifical­ly, they prefer Chinese students to focus on humanities and social sciences rather than STEM fields. Campbell recently emphasized this point, stating, “I hope to see more Chinese students coming to the U.S. to study humanities and social sciences, rather than particle physics.”

He justified the selective admission policy by noting that U.S. universiti­es are limiting Chinese students’ access to controlled technologi­es—citing “security reasons.”

There’s a prevailing belief among some American elites that China’s rapid technologi­cal developmen­t stems partly from appropriat­ing U.S. hi-tech innovation­s, which has fueled a rise in technologi­cal restrictio­ns against China. Consequent­ly, Chinese STEM students in the U.S. have become unintended scapegoats. However, those advocating for the exclusion of Chinese STEM students must consider the changing dynamics: Many Chinese students, who previously sought to immigrate to the U.S. after their studies, now show increasing reluctance to stay.

The narrowing income gap between the U.S. and China to some extent explains why Chinese talents are choosing to return home. Rising antiChina sentiment in the U.S. is another factor.

In 2018, the Donald Trump administra­tion initiated the controvers­ial China Initiative, which broadly categorize­d research activities by Chinese nationals and Chinese Americans as potential espionage.

A 2023 study by Yu Xie, Director of the Center for Contempora­ry China Studies at Princeton University, published in the Proceeding­s of the National Academy of Sciences journal, revealed that during the three years the initiative was active, around 150 Chinese scholars were investigat­ed, 24 were criminally charged, and many faced inquiries.

Though suspended in 2022, the initiative’s lingering effects continue to be felt. Since last November, there have been 10 incidents at Washington Dulles Airport involving Chinese students being questioned and deported following visa cancelatio­ns. This further undermines the U.S. ability to attract Chinese talent.

Over the 45-year history of China-U.S. diplomatic relations, educationa­l exchange has served as a bridge connecting both sides.

As a global hub for talent, the U.S. should inspire confidence among its people that their country can attract talent from around the world, rather than adopt a shortsight­ed mindset that may ultimately undermine the foundation of its global tech leadership.