White House guidance to universities on security concerns and the threats posed to open research risks chilling collaborations and fails to grasp the complexities of China¡¯s research policy, experts have warned.

Ahead of the start of the new academic year,? that?foreign adversaries ¡°exploit the open nature¡± of US universities to acquire scientific and technical information and advance their own technological and innovation goals.

Although it acknowledges that any research system must balance openness with caution, the report emphasises ¡°scientific stewardship and heightened security awareness¡± and stresses the need for robust safeguards and due diligence practices.

Futao Huang, professor in the Research Institute for Higher Education at Hiroshima University, Japan, said the warning ¡°reflects a heightened security turn¡± in recent years.

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¡°While some concerns are real, the framing risks overstating ¡®foreign threats¡¯ in ways that may chill collaboration and talent mobility.

¡°If carried further under Trump, it could indeed make the US research ecosystem more closed and more tightly controlled at the federal level, especially with regard to China.¡±

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This could undermine the openness and international cooperation that have long underpinned US scientific leadership, he added.

Donald Trump recently claimed that the US would welcome 600,000 Chinese students to its universities ¨C an?about-turn from previous statements?about restricting access for Chinese nationals, which angered some of his right-wing supporters.

Caroline Wagner, professor of science policy at Ohio State University, said the new apparent openness was at odds with the ¡°muddled¡± report. She said some of its recommendations are reasonable but it does not offer guidance on how to distinguish between legitimate knowledge-sharing and problematic appropriation.

A recent drop-off in the number of collaborative papers published between the US and other countries was?because of?¡°anticipatory actions rather than compliance¡±, she said.

¡°Without a clear policy, many are backing away from cooperation out of concern about stepping over an imaginary line.¡±

Wagner warned that a reduction in international collaboration will do further damage to US science infrastructure, which is already?under threat from internal budget cuts and staff firings.

The ED also encouraged US talent to remain in the country and not work for ¡°authoritarian regimes¡±, warned of the dangers of foreign talent recruitment programmes and reiterated that taxpayer-funded research is designed to benefit the American people, not foreign governments. It also provided guidance on how to be ¡°security aware¡± when travelling overseas.

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China¡¯s huge growth as a science and technology superpower means that warnings such as these are usually 10 years too late, according to Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese studies at King¡¯s College London.

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¡°The problem is more how do we get access to the technology China¡¯s producing rather the other way around. China is outperforming the rest of the world in almost every single area, and it¡¯s doing it quickly¡­the horse has bolted, the horse is miles away now.¡±

The US and China are expected to begin another round of trade negotiations later in the year.

Brown said there are still areas where China will be opportunistic and exploitative when it comes to research, but it is now more vulnerable to others prying into it.

¡°It¡¯s a much more complicated battlefield and the security apparatus is drumming this very binary idea that we¡¯ve got to protect ourselves against this hostile enemy entity, but in fact it¡¯s way more kind of multilateral and multidimensional.¡±

Given?the pressure Trump is putting on universities, Brown said it was a ¡°strange time¡± to be warning them off collaborating with international partners.

¡°You¡¯re not going to maintain your extremely powerful and good universities with those constraints, it¡¯s just going to break,¡± said Brown.

Anthony Moretti, associate professor in communication at Robert Morris University, said no US institution would intentionally undermine its reputation by ¡°aligning with people or institutions that seemingly?come out of the blue¡±.

He said due diligence and investigations must be and are undertaken but warned of the risks from becoming too closed off to China and other collaborators. ¡°The open hand of friendship is always better than the closed fist of fury,¡± he added.

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patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com