The prospect of a military conflict with the United States is not what keeps Chinese leader Xi Jinping up at night.
Fortunately, the U.S. has a long history of taking in waves of highly skilled scientists at its rivals’ expense. That includes welcoming Jewish scientists fleeing Nazi Germany and recruiting Nazi scientists to support America’s atomic and missile programs. America similarly lured Soviet defectors to the U.S. during the height of the Cold War. Studies reveal they had an outsize impact on U.S. technological development and economic productivity, in essence cementing America’s superpower status.
The challenge facing U.S. policymakers centers on attracting top Chinese talent while also ensuring that our cutting-edge innovations are not transferred back to China. This is particularly true given that the Chinese government often threatens and intimidates the family members of those who relocate abroad. Part of the brain drain strategy lies in clearing the current backlog of H-1B visas for high-skilled immigrants. These are people who are sponsored by U.S.
Another option would be to rethink America’s asylum laws to encourage highly skilled Chinese defectors, offering them permanent residence and later citizenship in exchange for relocating to America. To limit Beijing’s ability to harass these defectors' families, they should be able to bring one or both of their parents with them to the U.S.
Of course, a great deal of effort will be needed to vet asylum applicants appropriately, as well as blunt attempts by China’s security services to seed bad actors into the asylum process. And it goes without saying that unvetted immigrants should not be immediately placed into sensitive national security positions, in the same way that unvetted Americans should not be either.
Going forward, as Xi signals plans to build up China’s science and technology cadre, the U.S. should listen — and then work aggressively to undermine his grand technological vision. Such a strategy would not only be the stuff of Xi’s nightmares. It would also benefit the U.S., too.More from Examiner
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