Escalating US-China Tensions, Techno-Nationalism, and Their Implications for Universities in the US (and Canada). Why Now? What Next?

Relations between the United States and China are souring dramatically in what is rapidly becoming a Cold War setting. This is having significant impact on multiple sectors including universities that over four decades have built a web of linkages largely regarded as of mutual advantage. In particular, faculty in STEM and other fields including bio/medicine and Chinese students at American universities, have become increasingly entangled in the escalating confrontation between Washington and Beijing.

Presidential directives, Congressional committees, actions by federal departments and funding agencies (including NIH and NSF), as well as steps taken by some university administrations, have had a major impact on university-based research collaborations with Chinese counterparts.

Leading researchers, the majority of them of Chinese descent, are charged with betraying the trust placed in them by university administrations and federal granting agencies by transferring cutting-edge knowledge back to China as part of “whole of society” efforts to enhance China’s economic and military power at the US’s expense.

In this online encounter we will ask:

What are the national security and integrity of research considerations behind these actions?

What is the scale and scope of activities considered improper or illegal?

What have been the consequences for American universities and how have they responded?

What are the implications for third countries, including Canada?

How do we balance the advantages of open science, collaborations, education and exchange with the need to protect national security, maintain cyber security, safeguard intellectual property, and maintain ethical standards?

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Co-Sponsors: The Centre for Chinese Research, the Institute of Asian Research, the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, and Green College