The War for Chinese Talent in America and Lessons for Europe

In his new book, David Zweig analyzes how, since the mid-1990s, China’s party/state has vigorously used an extensive array of programs and incentives to persuade ethnic Chinese living in America to transfer their technological knowhow back home. He documents China’s ‘no-holds-barred’ effort to access U.S. technology and America’s harsh counterattack and its successful efforts to disrupt the transfer of U.S. technology to China. Zweig's study, which includes an assessment of the first Trump administration's "China Initiative", highlights how this conflict has undermined Sino-American scientific collaboration and triggered an outflow of Chinese talent from America and back to China. 

After a summary of his book The War for Chinese Talent in America: The Politics of Technology and Knowledge in Sino-U.S. Relations (AAS/Columbia UP 2024), David Zweig will join us to discuss the lessons Europe can learn from recent developments in Sino-American scientific relations and what the near future holds.