William Pentland, writing in Forbes, highlights an attempt by one member of the US Congress to throw a wrench into US-China scientific cooperation:

A two-sentence clause included in the U.S. spending bill approved by Congress a few weeks ago threatens to reverse more than three decades of constructive U.S. engagement with the People’s Republic of China.

The clause prohibits the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from coordinating any joint scientific activity with China.

Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA), a long-time critic of the Chinese government who chairs a House spending committee that oversees several science agencies, inserted the language into the spending legislation to prevent NASA or OSTP from using federal funds “to develop, design, plan, promulgate, implement or execute a bilateral policy, program, order, or contract of any kind to participate, collaborate, or coordinate bilaterally in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company.”

Seriously bad idea, not to mention paranoid. The provision would also prohibit NASA from hosting Chinese government visitors, which seems way over the top.

Look, I’m a huge fan of international science and technology cooperation. The history is pretty clear that what is now called “science diplomacy” has been remarkably effective. During the Cold War, S&T programs not only kept the dialogue going between the US and USSR during some tough times, but were also at the forefront of the thawing that occurred during the period in the 1970s known as detente.

According to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:

Science diplomacy and science and technology cooperation between the United States and other countries is one of our most effective ways of influencing and assisting other nations and creating real bridges between the United States and counterparts.

The most successful of those programs were in the area of space technology, and when you study the history of international S&T cooperation, space is always quite prominent.¹

The fundamental change in US-China relations in the 1970s would have been much more difficult without the S&T programs that preceded the Kissinger and Nixon visits. There is a long and successful bilateral history here that Congress would interfere with if given the chance:

January 31, 2009 marked the 30th anniversary of the signing of the  Agreement Between the Governments of the People’s Republic of China and the United States of America on Cooperation in Science and Technology. The signing marked the formalization of reestablished ties in science and technology between the two countries which began following the signing of the Shanghai Communique in 1972. While sometimes dismissed as “scientific tourism” by the American side, the exchanges of scientific delegations which began after 1972 played a critical role in shaping what was to become a far more complex relationship.

Having established my general support for S&T cooperation, I do want to point out that Congressional action in this area is being motivated by legitimate concerns.

What is Representative Wolf worried about? In short: espionage. In a recent interview he gave on the topic, Wolf told Science Insider about all the dirty tricks instigated by Beijing, including hacking of government databases and industrial espionage. This also stems from China’s overall problems with protecting intellectual property rights. In Wolf’s words, “You name the company, and the Chinese are trying to get its secrets.”

These are all familiar topics to readers of this blog, and I think I’ve been fairly consistent in acknowledging that yes, China, along with many other countries, engages in these espionage activities. The PRC seems to be a bit more aggressive than some others and also not as sophisticated at covering their tracks as their counterparts at, for example, the US National Security Agency (NSA).

Countries spy on one another, and certainly S&T programs need to be properly vetted to ensure that sensitive information is not given to the wrong folks. On the other hand, aside from the significant diplomatic benefits, the point of cooperative S&T programs is to share information and learn from one another. Does the US government really believe that it has nothing to learn from China?

Apparently that’s exactly what Wolf thinks:

We don’t want to give them the opportunity to take advantage of our technology, and we have nothing to gain from dealing with them[.]

Espionage is a problem, but Wolf’s little addition to this particular spending bill is a huge overreaction. The good news is that, according to Pentland, the Obama Administration might challenge this restriction on the grounds that it doesn’t apply to S&T programs that are part of US foreign policy. Let’s hope so.
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1. Disclaimer: I studied international S&T cooperation in grad school and am a true believer on the subject.[↩]

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