To overcome “brain drain,” some countries encourage their overseas nationals to use the knowledge they gained abroad to help their motherlands. Since the mid-1990s, China’s party-state efforts include a wide array of programs and incentives to encourage overseas talent to transfer their knowledge back home. Many Chinese working abroad participate, some to strengthen their former homeland, others from self-interest. Author David Zweig’s new book, The War for Chinese Talent in America: The Politics of Technology and Knowledge in Sino-U.S. Relations, documents China’s effort to access U.S. technology and America’s vigorous counterattacks and efforts to disrupt the transfer of American technology to China.
In an interview conducted on September 10, 2024, David Zweig, in conversation with Yangyang Cheng, explores the status of Sino-American scientific collaboration and the outflow of some top Chinese talent from the United States back to China.
