Science of maintaining good relations with China?

The cooling of relations between the United States and China has not only political consequences. Research is also feeling a cold wind, affecting recruitment, collaboration between universities, publications in scientific journals and even the private lives of some researchers.

Here and there, researchers of Chinese origin have reported the existence of this They were detained by customs officials For an hour or two upon their return to the United States. Accusations “to transfer information”sensitive“It was the subject of investigations. Including in Canada.

Less joint research

But beyond these anecdotes, the numbers speak for themselves: since 2017, the number of joint papers between researchers from both countries has increased. In declinethe first After four decades of growth.

To be sure, the level remains high: in 2021, American universities awarded more than 8,000 doctoral degrees to students from China.

The magazine states that this has been a large number since then nature in Editorial Published on February 26, this represents nearly a third of the 25,000 doctoral degrees awarded to international students.