A study released by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences at the end of last month on the results of an online survey it conducted on behalf of the Asian American Scholar Forum has put the spotlight on the widespread fear among US-based scientists of Chinese descent conducting routine research and academic work in the country.

The survey revealed "a strong sense of uneasiness and fear" among the respondents. Out of the 1,304 scientists of Chinese descent surveyed, 72 percent said they did not feel safe as an academic researcher, 42 percent are fearful of conducting research, and 65 percent are worried about collaborations with Chinese researchers or institutions. Most remarkably, 61 percent said they thought about leaving the United States for another country due to the Chinese-hostile social environment in the US.

The PNAS attributed this to the China Initiative launched in 2018 by the Department of Justice. The initiative, supposedly formalized the concerns of the Donald Trump administration about alleged "Chinese economic espionage" on the back of the trade war it was waging against China. In reality, it primarily targeted US-based academic scientists of Chinese descent for scrutiny on the grounds of alleged "research integrity" issues. The most prominent of these being a failure to disclose relationships with Chinese institutions on federal grant applications.

The initiative was heavily criticized for racial profiling by both the scientific community and civil rights advocates in the US, leading to an end to it under that official name in early 2022. But not before at least 150 scientists of Chinese descent were put under official investigation, 24 of whom faced criminal charges, while many more were investigated in secret. To quote FBI director Christopher Wray in a US Congress hearing, more than 2,000 investigations were launched during the implementation period of the China Initiative, or one every 10 hours.

Since the end of World War II, the US has welcomed and absorbed talents from all over the world, including China, in order to maintain its primacy in science and technology.

But contrary to this practice, the US under the Trump administration began putting the squeeze on Chinese talents. President Joe Biden has continued the policies of his predecessor targeting Chinese researchers.

In a talk with ethnic Chinese overseas in the 1950s, Premier Zhou Enlai famously compared them to daughters of a family that married into another family, who in traditional Chinese culture could play a positive role in promoting the relations between the two families. Scientific progress is driven by openness and collaborations. In forcing scientists of Chinese descent to leave the US, certain US political forces are pushing for a divorce between China and the US in scientific fields, which is against the interests of both.

Ironically, the China Initiative and the broader prejudice against people of Chinese descent in US society will only serve to undermine the US' global leadership in science and technology.