A thank you note from China
they are thankful that we are turning over leadership of the 21st century to them
I went to my mailbox the other day and found an unusual letter. The return address was smudged, and the envelope was slightly torn, making it unclear who it was meant for or why it ended up in my hands. But after reading it, I thought it was worth sharing.
Dear America:
On behalf of the People’s Republic of China, I would like to deeply thank the current U.S. administration for implementing policies that threaten to dismantle America’s university research enterprise, thereby helping China become the preeminent global power of the 21st century.
For decades, we have watched with envy as the United States built the world’s most powerful innovation engine through its university system. The formula was brilliant in its simplicity: substantial federal funding for basic research combined with a visa system that allowed the smartest people from around the world to contribute to American innovation. Silicon Valley, biotechnology, artificial intelligence — all grew from seeds planted in American university laboratories.
This system created a remarkable virtuous cycle: federal research funding led to breakthrough discoveries, which spawned new industries, which generated economic growth, which supported more research funding. From the internet to GPS, from genetic engineering to computer chips, university laboratories have been the birthplace of innovations that drove 85% of our economic growth.
More than half of America's billion-dollar startups were founded by immigrants, many of whom began as international students in university labs.
While we in China have made tremendous strides in building our own research capabilities, particularly in strategic areas like artificial intelligence and quantum computing, we still trail the United States in many critical fields. But, thanks to your new policies, not for long.
The current administration’s determination to handicap America’s research enterprise through funding restrictions and hostile policies toward research universities is an unexpected gift. Research programs in the U.S. are already contracting. Top Chinese scholars who might once have chosen American universities are going elsewhere.
Some Americans mistakenly think that cutting research funding is necessary to reduce the budget deficit. But the National Science Foundation’s budget accounts for less than 0.2% of federal spending, making its contribution to the deficit negligible. In fact, funding research is one of the highest-return investments a government can make, so cuts to research funding will weaken economic growth, making the deficit even harder to rein in.
Make no mistake – we understand the value of research to China’s economy. That’s why China is rapidly expanding its research capabilities. Investments in science and technology are growing, our universities are improving, and our research output is accelerating. In 2022, we took the top spot in the Nature Index from the United States for contributions to natural sciences — a position we have maintained since then.
But even with these advances, besting America’s world-class research universities would have taken decades of sustained effort. Now, thanks to your policies, that timeline has been dramatically shortened. While America turns inward and undermines its own strengths, we will continue our steady march forward.
In time, when historians write about the shift in global technological leadership from the United States to China, they may well point to 2025 as the crucial turning point.
The irony of your actions would be amusing if they weren’t so advantageous to us. The United States emerged as a scientific superpower partly thanks to the scientists who fled Germany when the Nazi leadership dismantled Germany’s world-leading university system. Those shortsighted policies drove some of the 20th-century’s greatest minds – Einstein, von Neumann, Bethe, and many others – straight into America’s waiting arms.
The innovations that flowed from these scientists and America’s universities helped win World War II, powered the space race, launched the digital revolution, and drove decades of unprecedented prosperity. Now, in a stunning parallel, your administration seems determined to repeat Germany’s tragic history – and, this time, it will be China that gains.
So again, thank you. In your misguided effort to “make America great,” you are instead systematically dismantling one of your greatest competitive advantages. We couldn’t have planned it better ourselves.
Sincerely,
A grateful Chinese official
This was originally published on Feb. 28, 2025 in the San Antonio Express-News [gift link].
This is a brilliant, fantastic piece of writing, and, so very sadly, all so true. I know; I was at one time a Dean for Research at a major research university, with a large international student population.
you should be thanking China for believing in climate change and leading the energy transition, investing in renewables, and working to decarbonize the global economy. The faster the US empire collapses the sooner we can start to mitigate carbon emissions.