As US-China rivalry spills into education UCLA hits out at ‘corrosive’ racial profiling of foreign students
Amid growing reports of Chinese students and academics facing discrimination in the United States, a leading American college has criticised unnamed authorities for judging people on the basis of their nationality, saying its success as a research institution is founded on collaboration and cooperation.
“While some government leaders have expressed concerns about the potential theft of intellectual property and prepublication of results by foreign governments that threaten our national security, we must never resort to suspicion based on a person’s national origin,” the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) said in a statement issued on Thursday.
“To do so is nothing short of discrimination, which is antithetical to our values as an institution. Racial profiling, in any context, is corrosive to our community,” the statement, issued by the chancellor’s office, said.
“The important research that UCLA undertakes does not arbitrarily stop at our national borders … Our collaborative spirit has helped us to thrive, and we are committed to protecting a research and teaching environment that is open and cooperative, and facilitates the appropriate exchange of research results.”
The United States and China have been locked in a trade war for the past 17 months and their growing rivalry has spiralled into the military and academic fields, and especially with regards to the development of new and advanced technologies.
As Washington has accused Beijing of using unfair tactics – form forced technology transfers to intellectual property theft and industrial espionage – to gain an advantage, so Chinese academics working and visiting the US have complained of being victimised.
In August, US President Donald Trump tweeted a list of allegations against China.
“For many years China (and many other countries) has been taking advantage of the United States on Trade, Intellectual Property Theft, and much more. Our Country has been losing HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year to China, with no end in sight,” he said.
In July, China-born Yi-Chi Shih, a naturalised American electrical engineer and adjunct professor at UCLA, was found guilty of illegally shipping semiconductors with military applications to China. A federal jury found the 64-year-old guilty on 18 counts, including making false statements to a government agency, mail and wire fraud, and filing false tax returns.
Chinese nationals make up about a third of the 1.1 million international students in the US, according to the New York-based Institute of International Education. Of those 363,341, about 36 per cent are studying either science, technology, engineering or mathematics.
Since last summer, all Chinese engaged in the fields of robotics, aviation, engineering and hi-tech manufacturing – all of which are priority areas under Beijing’s “Made in China 2025” industrial upgrading and development plan – have faced much tighter visa controls.
Under Trump, a policy that allowed Chinese citizens to apply for five-year student visas has been withdrawn, and all Chinese students in so-called sensitive fields have been subjected to additional screening by US embassies and consulates.
More from South China Morning Post:
US academics condemn ‘racial profiling’ of Chinese students and scholars over spying fears
US and China must stop ‘race to bottom’ in blocking academic visas, say American scholars
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