Academic Panel Warns of Impacts of Counter-Espionage Surveillance on US-Chinese Scientific Collaboration
Original news from Weatherhead East Asian Institute.
Fissures in US-China relations remain entrenched, with no clear path to mending political differences in sight. Concerns within the US about Chinese espionage have come to a head, and, despite the change in US administrations at the beginning of 2021, lawmakers and the federal government continue to pursue and actively enforce measures to confront China and Chinese influence. Two policies, in particular, the China Initiative and the US Innovation and Competition Act (formerly the Endless Frontier Act), have drawn the ire of academics who note dire consequences for scientific and academic collaboration being undertaken in good faith–both present and future–and report a climate of fear and racial profiling.
In an interdisciplinary discussion on December 2 titled “Open Science: Sino-US Collaboration in an Age of Surveillance,” panelists drew from personal experience and professional expertise, from the fields of science, law, and journalism, to consider the implications of these policies.
“Open Science: Sino-US Collaboration in an Age of Surveillance” took place on December 2, 2021, and was co-sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, the Office of the Provost, the Columbia University Asian Faculty Association, the Department of Biomedical Engineering, the Center for Science and Society, the A&S Committee on Equity and Diversity, the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, the Hong Yen Chang Center for Chinese Legal Studies, and Columbia Global Centers | Beijing.
Panelists
Xiaoxing Xi, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Physics at Temple University
Benjamin L. Liebman, Robert L. Lieff Professor of Law and Director of the Hong Yen Chang Center for Chinese Legal Studies at Columbia Law School; Faculty Advisory Committee member of Columbia Global Centers | Beijing
Aruna Viswanatha, Reporter at the Wall Street Journal
Introductions by
Robert Mawhinney, Professor of Physics; Dean of Science, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University
X. Edward Guo, President of Columbia University Asian Faculty Association; Chair of Biomedical Engineering Department at Columbia Engineering; Faculty Advisory Committee member of Columbia Global Centers | Beijing
Jennifer La'O, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Columbia University
Moderated by
Eugenia Lean, Professor of Chinese History, East Asian Languages and Cultures Department; Director of Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University; Faculty Advisory Committee member of Columbia Global Centers | Beijing