“Specter of China Hovers Over US Colleges,” featuring Margaret E. Kosal, was published by Radio Free Asia.
Published 11/11/2024 - ATLANTA – The leaves were turning red and orange at Georgia Institute of Technology on a recent afternoon, and students were studying for midterms. Yet within this quiet haven, a global conflict has raged.
Georgia Tech, as the university is known, has been pulled into the geopolitical strife between the United States and China. A group of U.S. lawmakers say that Chinese officials have been trying to pilfer research from Georgia Tech and other American universities and use their resources to strengthen China’s military.
In a September report, Republican members of two separate committees in the House of Representatives said that Beijing has been benefiting from the U.S.-funded research done at Georgia Tech and other universities in this country.
The report claimed that research intended to help the U.S. military has inadvertently given a boost to the Chinese armed forces by allowing Chinese researchers access to knowledge and technology that could ultimately have militaristic ends.
Chinese scientists have managed to obtain such resources through joint U.S.-China educational initiatives and similar programs, the report said. American research is being used to develop Chinese semiconductors, artificial intelligence and military technology, it warned.
The new Trump administration could mean that the U.S.-China university partnerships and exchange programs will be placed under even more scrutiny, say academics and experts in the field. David Zweig, the author of a new book, “The War for Chinese Talent in America,” told RFA that university administrators may face now increased pressure.
“It puts those exchanges at greater risk,” Zweig said, referring to the U.S.-China university partnerships. It may be “that the new administration will investigate the exchange programs or will stop them, or they will broaden what is seen as threats to national security.”
He and others worry the claims of the Republican lawmakers are too far-reaching and are unnecessarily shuttering much-needed research programs. At least one American scientist who worked on such projects denied allegations made in the recent congressional report, telling Reuters the research was both early-stage and all in the public domain.
The discussion around these tensions is the latest in long running disputes over the role of U.S. higher education in competition with China. Amid shifting dynamics in U.S-China relations, students are often paying the price.
Those dynamics today are testy. The mood in the U.S. now is one that, regardless of party, politicians agree that China poses a danger to this country.
“Anything having to do with China right now—you’re able to score political points by being the most hawkish,” said Margaret Kosal, an associate professor of international affairs at Georgia Tech.
A defense policy bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, expected to pass this year, will likely include provisions against China and warnings to U.S. universities in particular; universities could even be blocked from receiving U.S. Defense Department funds for some research.
Chinese officials say that academic exchanges promote better understanding between the two cultures and do not pose a threat to the United States. Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, told RFA in an email that the accusations from the U.S. lawmakers are unwarranted. Liu criticized lawmakers for “blocking normal scientific research exchanges and cooperation between the two sides in the name of ‘national security.’”