As geopolitics shatters elite Sino-American academic ties, new and more diverse partnerships are emerging in unexpected places
The Unravelling of a Half-Century of Scholarly Exchange
In 1978, a small delegation of professors from Shanghai Jiao Tong University crossed the Pacific on a mission personally approved by Deng Xiaoping. Their visits to American research institutions and factories laid the groundwork for decades of transnational academic partnership that became, at its peak, one of the most productive scholarly exchanges in history. That era is now unravelling with remarkable speed. The University of Michigan’s abrupt termination of its 20-year joint engineering institute with SJTU in early 2025 — citing funding, political, and national security concerns — is one of the highest-profile casualties in a long and accelerating list of collapsed Sino-American academic collaborations. The decision came after intense pressure from US lawmakers concerned about technology transfer and research security.
The Scale of the Retreat
The Michigan-SJTU partnership was widely regarded as a gold standard model: a rigorous joint undergraduate and graduate program in mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering that had produced thousands of graduates and significant research output. Its collapse is emblematic of a broader pattern. Elite American universities have been withdrawing from formal China partnerships at an accelerating pace since 2018, driven by federal funding restrictions, congressional pressure, concerns about intellectual property theft, and the passage of the National Security Law in Hong Kong — which removed the city as a neutral venue for sensitive academic exchange. The decision to exit is not costless for the American side. These partnerships produced genuine research breakthroughs in fields from clean energy to materials science. American institutions are losing access to China’s enormous research talent pool and to the scale of investment that Chinese universities now command.
Who Is Filling the Void
Shanghai Jiao Tong’s response to the Michigan withdrawal was pragmatic rather than self-pitying. The joint institute has been relaunched as SJTU Global College, and the university is partnering with Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University for a new Zhangjiang International College of Technology. That pivot — away from American partners and toward institutions in Singapore, Europe, and elsewhere in Asia — is increasingly typical. The collapse of elite US-China academic ties is being partially filled by a more diverse and geographically distributed set of partnerships, with European, Australian, and Southeast Asian universities all playing larger roles.
The Strategic Implications
For democratic policymakers, the academic decoupling presents a genuine dilemma. On one hand, restricting Chinese access to American research in sensitive dual-use fields — artificial intelligence, quantum computing, advanced semiconductors — is a legitimate national security measure. The US Department of Defense has documented the ways in which CCP-directed technology acquisition has contributed directly to China’s military modernisation. On the other hand, the wholesale collapse of people-to-people academic exchange risks eliminating one of the most important channels through which Chinese students, researchers, and intellectuals have encountered democratic norms and free inquiry. The graduate students and visiting scholars who spent years at American and British universities and returned home with genuine exposure to open intellectual culture represent a long-term resource for eventual democratic change in China. Cutting off that exchange entirely serves short-term security interests at the expense of long-term democratic ones.
Protecting Academic Freedom While Managing Risk
The challenge for democratic governments and universities is to make intelligent distinctions: restricting genuine security-relevant research collaboration while maintaining the open exchange of ideas and the education of Chinese students in democratic institutions. That distinction is hard to make perfectly but essential to attempt. The Academic Freedom Index documents the extent to which China’s own university system restricts the free exchange of ideas — a reminder that the asymmetry in this relationship is not incidental but structural. American and European universities operate on principles that Beijing’s system systematically suppresses. The retreat from China partnerships is understandable. But it should be managed strategically, not reactively, with a clear view of both the security risks to be managed and the democratic values to be preserved.
Senior Journalist & Editor, Apple Daily UK
Contact: athena.lai@appledaily.uk
Athena Lai is a senior journalist and editor with extensive experience in Chinese-language investigative reporting and editorial leadership. Educated at a leading journalism school in the United Kingdom, Athena received formal training in fact-checking methodology, editorial governance, and international media standards, grounding her work in globally recognized best practices.
She has held senior editorial roles at Apple Daily and other liberal Chinese publications, where she oversaw coverage of Hong Kong civil liberties, diaspora politics, rule of law, and press freedom. Athena’s reporting is distinguished by disciplined sourcing, cross-verification, and a clear separation between factual reporting and opinion, reinforcing reader trust.
Beyond reporting, Athena has served as an editor responsible for mentoring journalists, enforcing ethical guidelines, and managing sensitive investigations. Her newsroom leadership reflects real-world experience navigating legal risk, source protection, and editorial independence under pressure.
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