AAS Asia Shorts. Ann Arbor: Association for Asian Studies [distributed by Columbia University Press], 2024. US$18.00, paper; US$18.00, ebook. ISBN 9781952636493.
David Zweig’s book stands out with its meticulously researched and fresh analysis of the intricate dynamics driving the technological competition and diasporic geopolitics between the United States and China. The book builds on Zweig’s extensive research on China’s brain drain, situating it within the broader context of the escalating Sino-US technological rivalry and its impact on the Chinese diaspora. He examines the China Initiative (CI), which began in 2018 during the Trump administration and targeted the Chinese diaspora scientific community, raising suspicions of their engagement in espionage and technology transfer from the US to China. This examination weaves together a nuanced and balanced perspective on the complex interplay of brain drain, racial profiling, policy overreach, and scientific decoupling. Zweig’s perspectives are grounded in deep engagement, interviews, surveys, and data analysis with China-born academics, engineers, and scientists. The book contains empirical data spanning three decades, which is its key strength. His experience as an expert witness for two Chinese professors indicted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) provided him with valuable insights into the complexities of the issues.
Chapter 1 provides a substantial background of the socio-political and economic factors underpinning the immigration of high talent from developing countries to the US and how sender countries began using the diaspora option for potential benefits. Chapter 2 discusses China’s national policies that intensified the brain drain and its diaspora strategy, which shifted from mobilizing the diaspora to returning to China in 1998 to prioritizing strategic brain circulation in 2001. Consequently, most of the brain drain from China accounts for people with PhDs in STEM areas, with low return rates (13). This has led to what Zweig describes as the war for Chinese talent marked by China’s Thousand Talents Plan (TTP) to attract its high-talent diaspora, prompting a response from the US with its CI. Zweig’s detailed examination of China’s TTP reveals collaborative projects to leverage the diaspora’s expertise in technological innovation, strategic knowledge sharing, and promoting academic exchanges with Chinese universities (45–48). Under Xi Jinping’s leadership, the Overseas Department has undergone institutional changes. It is now directly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), strengthening the ties between the CCP and Chinese diaspora professionals.
Chapter 3 provides an in-depth account of the CI, which investigated participants in the TTP. China’s approach to the TTP sparked suspicion among US policymakers. The NIH, the Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) were found to be vulnerable to the ramifications of the TTP, leading to a systemic search for China-born researchers collaborating with China using NIH funds (77). As a result of these investigations, many China-born scholars lost their jobs. The Chinese community in the US perceived this as a case of racial profiling (88–90). Zweig’s comparison of the US crackdown on the TTP to McCarthyism and Maoist-era-like political campaigns is apt (65), given the CI’s broad implications, wherein for a few individual cases, an entire scientific community was targeted.
In chapter 4, Zweig’s investigation of six previously unknown cases charged under the CI, including non-Chinese individuals, provides significant insights. Three cases involve double-dipping on grants, a lack of transparency regarding affiliation with Chinese universities, and visits to Chinese research institutions; the parties were found guilty under the NIH or the DOJ (104–12). Others who were guilty of minor offences or not guilty were fired from their jobs, their funding was frozen, and their careers destroyed. They were left in uncertainty, which had an effect on their careers. Under the CI, what was once deemed acceptable or benign suddenly became problematic (109). Universities sometimes helped the scientist in mitigating cases, and sometimes not. Although there were instances of scientists utilizing funds for covert purposes, Zweig also illustrates how the Chinese diaspora has persistently contributed to scientific research in the US while assisting China’s development.
Chapter 5 reflects how the Biden administration ended the CI but tightened China’s access to Western technology and prevented research ties in critical areas that could improve China’s capabilities. This eventually led to US-China scientific decoupling and the return of high-calibre talent to China. The CI exacerbated asymmetries in the international politics of knowledge, causing diaspora groups to become more insular. In 2018, Zweig visited Silicon Valley for a survey, but Chinese business leaders declined to meet him, highlighting the challenges of researching sensitive topics amid political tensions (28). Simultaneously, the Asian-American academic community has formed associations that promote inclusivity and equality. The final chapter suggests that the majority of Chinese researchers were primarily driven by a desire to enhance China’s research ecosystem, “pay back” the country for their education, mitigate the loss of expertise during the Cultural Revolution, and enrich themselves by “bringing bacon back to China” (150). Zweig’s analysis underscores an essential aspect of the human condition: the quest for rootedness and belonging, illustrating the complex interplay between personal, professional, and national loyalties.
Zweig’s book questions the conventional view of international relations as a zero-sum game, emphasizing instead a collaborative path between the two countries that ensures reciprocal benefits in scientific fields like life sciences, where joint efforts can yield mutual benefits. His recommendations in the current scenario remain uncertain, given China’s lack of transparency and US reluctance to hew the path of mutual benefit in innovation. Beyond the immediate focus on politics and policies, the book raises an important question about the nature of the Chinese diaspora’s identity and loyalty, compelling us to think about the broader concept of diaspora and loyalty to one’s ancestral land; however, it does not provide a definitive answer. It leaves the question of diaspora loyalty, which lies at the heart of its identity, open to interpretation. The book is a refreshing change from the hawkish scholarship on Sino-US relations that is so prevalent currently. It could be an indispensable resource for policymakers and scholars to understand the Sino-US relationship in light of diasporic geopolitics. Extensive appendices and notes add considerable value and open the way for new directions in research.
Himadree Sonowal
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi