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Small thread on what we should debate about China, risk management, and a case study. I'm understandably seen as a China hawk which is probably a fair assessment, but I have many strong divergences from the Trump administration China hawks. What strikes me about a lot of 1/n
the general debate is that it is being polarized into clear extremes. The Trump side has a significant racial component to it and I'm told this is the atmosphere in the US though I can't comment on that because I'm not there and haven't spent much time there recently. 2/n
This is unfortunate because not only is America supposed to welcome with open arms the tired, poor, and huddled masses yearning to be free, that is what almost all Chinese students want when they come to the United States. I have zero doubt that virtually all my students 3/n
that wanted to do a Phd in the US wanted was that type of opportunity. Having lived all my professional academic life in Asia with my kids going to Chinese schools, my wife and I don't even ask about nationality of their friends. We try to avoid discussing politics in front 4/n
them so they don't enter the world with my complaints of the CCP in the back of their mind when talking to a Chinese friend. The doves however have gone to the other extreme. Basically at this point, if you urge universities and professors to seriously think about risk 5/n
mitigation about Chinese state monitoring of students or IP theft, you're pretty much branded a racist. What makes this so myopic is that it is clearly self interest based in ignoring the risks. Stanford professors saying "what happened to my funding?" or saying 6/n
"well I'm not personally interning Muslims in Xinjiang so who cares if they use my research to build a better concentration camp?". For all the lofty ideals universities and professors claim to aspire to, when it comes down to research funding or publishing in peer reviewed 7/n
journal they will cut out your heart to get an extra impact factor point. The problem here is this, both sides have valid concerns. However, rather than recognize that valid concerns exist, each side is willfully choosing to overlook enormous problems. To take the case, 8/n
I would really hope that universities and professors would step up and lead this discussion recognizing that American universities should be multicultural places of research while also recognizing that many Chinese students fear speaking out because they are being monitored 9/n
or that faculty research not be used by the PLA. These are known cases and valid risks to be concerned about. American universities by willfully choosing not to lead the discussion about how to balance these valid points of view are removing themselves from a debate 10/n
that is impacting their business model and purpose. The risks of excluding student populations is real but so is the risk that very valid security risks are ignored in order to keep tuition and research funding checks flowing. Hopefully, both risks can be recognized as valid.
