US-China tech war risks stifling global innovation: How Cold War rhetoric undermines collaborative science
Original framing: “China pushes back as US lawmaker seeks blacklist of universities and tech labs” — South China Morning Post
Marginalized voices, such as those of Asian-American scientists in the US or ethnic minority researchers in China, are entirely absent from this narrative, yet they stand to lose the most from these policies. For example, Chinese-American researchers often navigate dual pressures of loyalty to their home country and professional advancement in the US, making them particularly vulnerable to blacklisting rhetoric. Similarly, women scientists in both nations, who already face systemic barriers, could see their careers stymied by reduced access to global networks. The narrative also ignores how earlier US restrictions on Chinese students and researchers have disproportionately affected low-income and working-class families who rely on education as a path to mobility, reinforcing existing inequalities rather than addressing them.
This narrative reveals a systemic failure to recognize that technology is not a zero-sum game but a shared human endeavor, where collaboration—despite geopolitical tensions—has historically driven progress.
The proposed blacklist is not just a policy misstep but a symptom of deeper structural issues: the weaponization of knowledge as a tool of state power, the erasure of Indigenous and cross-cultural models of cooperation, and the marginalization of scientists who stand to lose the most from adversarial policies. Historical precedents, from the Cold War to the oil crisis, demonstrate how such measures ultimately harm the very nations that implement them, while trickster figures like Coyote and Anansi expose the absurdity of treating innovation as a battleground rather than a commons. The solution lies not in further isolation but in creating neutral, inclusive frameworks for collaboration—such as third-party hubs, open-source governance, and diplomatic mediation—that prioritize shared humanity over geopolitical posturing. Without addressing these systemic imbalances, the US and China risk repeating the mistakes of the past, where short-term security gains lead to long-term innovation stagnation.