Chinese Scientists Are Leaving the United States

InverseParallax , 11 months ago

On the one hand I understand, on the other, having worked there, it seems insane.

It’s like volunteering to go back to prison, work is much harder, society is harder, the government is somewhere between apathetic to cruel and the office politics is unimaginable.

Also my understanding is that Chinese who go back are never fully trusted again.

cyd , 11 months ago

Well, they’re definitely not trusted in the US. Many perceive it as a matter of safety for themselves and their families. The perception is that if you’re Chinese, no matter how naturalized, the most innocuous misstep will make the US government come down on you like a ton of bricks.

And it’s not exactly a wrong perception; news about spurious prosecutions of Chinese and Chinese-American scientists have been circulating very widely in the scientific community. One can easily see how going back to China is viewed as the lesser of two evils.

betterdeadthanreddit , 11 months ago

IP theft isn’t exactly an “innocuous misstep”, it costs us about half a trillion dollars per year. Maybe not doing that would help.

cyd , 11 months ago

What I’m talking about is stuff like the case of Xi Xiaoxing, who was arrested and prosecuted for carrying schematics for a piece of non-secret commodity equipment.

betterdeadthanreddit , 11 months ago

A rare case when you hear hoof beats and find a zebra. Sucks to be that guy but I’m not going to lose sleep over it, our law enforcement and intelligence agencies are doing what they should.

cyd , 11 months ago

It ain’t rare, but the vast majority of cases don’t get known outside the scientific community, just as there’s a much larger number of police abuse incidents against black people for each George Floyd.

Anyway, the point is that there are legit reasons Chinese American scientists feel compelled to leave, that’s all. For them, it’s not simply a matter of “if you haven’t done anything wrong you don’t have anything to worry about”.