Up for renewal this month, members of Congress would like to see the U.S.-China Science and Technology Agreement (STA) expire this year.  Since its inception in 1979 and renewal every five years through 2018, the STA has fueled “one of the most productive scientific collaborations of the 21st century” .  Renewal of the STA in 2023 is now a subject of serious debate as a function of competitive advantage and due to military security concerns.   

Background

(Generated by OpenAI’s ChatGPT)

The history of scientific and technological cooperation between the United States and China is complex and multifaceted. It spans several decades and has been marked by both successes and challenges. Here is an overview of key points in this history:

Early Engagement (1970s-1980s):

• Diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China were normalized in 1979. This marked a turning point in their interactions, including in science and technology.
• During the early years of engagement, cooperation focused on areas like agriculture, energy, medicine, and environmental science.
• The two countries established agreements for exchanges of scientists, scholars, and researchers, enabling collaboration in various fields:  “The U.S.-China Science and Technology Agreement (STA), originally signed in 1979 and renewed about every five years with the last time being in 2018, opened the door for scientists to collaborate in physics, chemistry, health and other areas. Cooperation between the countries helped China to transition from ozone-depleting CFCs and enabled the sharing of influenza data used to devise yearly vaccines.” (1)

Emergence of Challenges (1990s-2000s):

• While there were periods of fruitful collaboration, challenges also emerged, including concerns over intellectual property theft and technology transfer.
• Cybersecurity issues became a point of contention, with reports of cyberattacks originating from China targeting U.S. institutions and companies.
• Export controls on sensitive technologies were imposed to prevent them from being used for military purposes, which sometimes affected scientific cooperation.

Sporadic Collaborations (2010s):

• Collaboration continued in various sectors, including clean energy, space exploration, and environmental protection.
• Both countries faced challenges related to market access, intellectual property, and regulatory barriers in areas like biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.
• Political tensions, such as disputes over trade practices, cybersecurity, and territorial claims, influenced the overall tone of cooperation.

Change in Attitudes (Late 2010s – Early 2020s):

• The U.S. government began to view China’s technological advancements as potential national security threats, leading to stricter policies on research collaboration and technology transfers.
• Concerns arose about the influence of Chinese technology companies and their ties to the Chinese government, leading to debates about Huawei, 5G technology, and data security.
• The U.S. government took measures to scrutinize and limit collaboration with Chinese researchers in certain high-tech fields.
• The COVID-19 pandemic initially strained diplomatic relations but also prompted some cooperation in public health research. 

It’s important to note that the history of U.S.-China scientific and technological cooperation is influenced by broader geopolitical dynamics, economic considerations, and evolving technological landscapes. The relationship between the two countries has often been characterized by a mixture of collaboration and competition, with each side seeking to protect its own interests while also recognizing the benefits of cooperation in various scientific and technological fields.

WSJ:  The U.S. Is Turning Away From Its Biggest Scientific Partner at a Precarious Time

U.S. moves to cut research ties with China over security concerns threaten American progress in critical areas, some scientists warn

“One of the most productive scientific collaborations of the 21st century is pulling apart, as deteriorating relations between the U.S. and China lead researchers to sever ties.

The decoupling, which began in recent years with investigations into Chinese researchers in the U.S., has accelerated as tensions have risen between the superpowers. Now some U.S. lawmakers are pushing to let a landmark agreement to cooperate on science and technology, signed in 1979 and renewed routinely since, expire this month.

China has built itself into a powerful engine of scientific discovery in recent decades, partly with American help, and many in Washington fear that China could gain a security and military advantage unless the U.S. takes decisive steps to cut off cooperation in scientific research.

Many scientists warn, however, that Washington would be severing ties as China is making its greatest contributions to scientific advancements, and cutting it off risks slowing American progress in critical areas such as biotechnology, clean energy and telecommunications.” (1) 

Data Provided by Research Firm Clarivate

The WSJ article has some great quant from London-based research firm Clarivate.  Highlights of the metrics-based insights include: 

• More than 40% of America’s scientific production—measured by the number of high-quality papers that U.S.-based scientists produce—involves cooperation with researchers abroad, according to Clarivate, a London-based data firm that tracks global scientific research.
• The U.S. depends more heavily on China than China does on the U.S. in some strategic areas, according to an analysis by Clarivate of studies in respected journals shared exclusively with The Wall Street Journal. Between 2017 and 2021, U.S.-China collaborations accounted for 27% of U.S.-based scientists’ high-quality research in nanoscience, for example, but only 13% of China-based scientists’. The gap in telecommunications was even wider, with collaborations accounting for 10% of China’s output but more than 33% of the U.S.’s.
• Some say this is partly a result of Chinese researchers’ citing each other’s papers. A report by Japan’s education ministry based on Clarivate’s data, covering papers published from 2019 to 2021, found that 61% of Chinese citations were by other China-based researchers, while just 29% of the citations of U.S. papers came from domestic peers.
• Clarivate said its science database counts only the highest-quality papers and weeds out Chinese researchers gaming their way into top-tier metrics.
• Chinese researchers have leapt ahead of their American counterparts in the field of energy storage, according to a 2021 U.S. government report, and Clarivate’s analysis shows China driving scientific output in other strategic areas. That includes basic science around semiconductors, where China collaborations account for 20% of papers produced in the U.S.

Caroline Wagner, a professor of public policy at Ohio State University, has also provided an analysis of the Clarivate data and has an interesting body of work on this topic:

• Drop in China-USA international collaboration
• A discussion of measuring the top-1% most-highly cited publications: quality and impact of Chinese papers

Axios: Future of 44-year-old science agreement caught in middle of U.S.-China tensions

“The STA signing gave ‘a form of permission for lab-to-lab, university-to-university, scientist-to-scientist cooperation,’ says John Holdren, former director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) during the Obama administration. ‘It legitimized the whole notion that collaboration was respectable.’

• Increased collaboration has helped to build personal relationships between U.S. and Chinese scientists, many of who went on to become senior officials in Beijing and Washington and leveraged those relationships to tackle science-based issues of mutual interest, he says.
• Scientific collaboration between the U.S. and China came under intense scrutiny during the Trump administration, when the U.S. Justice Department launched the China Initiative to investigate possible Chinese intellectual property theft and espionage. The program was shuttered after allegations officials racially profiled scientists, and cases fell apart.
• The STA — and under its umbrella federal research agencies’ agreements with their Chinese counterparts — is non-binding but facilitated data sharing about satellites, climate and seismic activities, as well as fusion and subatomic particle experiments.
• Research programs, projects, centers, meetings and exchanges across the fields of chemistry, physics, climate and energy science, agriculture, health and others were organized in federal U.S. agencies.”  

What Next?  

According to Axios:

• More than four decades into the [STA] agreement that included a pandemic and several administrations of fiery rhetoric, the broader nature of that cooperation is being scrutinized over concerns about Beijing-backed intellectual property theft and the Chinese military benefitting from knowledge about U.S. scientific advances. 
• Supporters of renewing the STA in some form argue the benefits of cooperation outweigh those risks. Opponents say continuing the agreement signals to Beijing that the U.S. doesn’t hold serious concerns about the risks.” (1)