US-China technology competition spills over into universities, drawing national security considerations

At the end of last month, the US Department of Defense added Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, both without military backgrounds, to its sanctions list. China's Ministry of Commerce promptly followed suit by adding a Polish civilian technical university to its export control list.  NTU PPGA’s Assoc Prof Dylan Loh believes that the noteworthy aspect of the sanctions list is not the scope of the regulations, but rather the chilling effect created by the political environment. He says that US and China will remain the two largest research ecosystems globally, but the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, India, and the Gulf states may not necessarily align entirely with either side. At the same time, global competition for top research talent will intensify. When universities choose partners, they will also consider political risks, funding sources, and national security. This means that research collaboration may see more invisible boundaries: researchers will collaborate less, universities will strengthen scrutiny, government research funding will be subject to more conditions, and the sharing of equipment, data, and laboratory resources in sensitive areas may become more difficult.

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