Chinese scientists feel no longer welcome in US as anti-Asian sentiment prevails

NEW YORK - Growing anti-Asian atmosphere in the United States has chilled Chinese scientists working in the country, with some being forced to abandon their careers and work in other nations instead, according to an article published on American weekly magazine Bloomberg Businessweek.

Rising anti-Asian sentiment, inflamed by some US leaders and institutions, is deterring Chinese talents from coming to the United States to study and work, said the article published on Monday by San Francisco-based writer Peter Waldman.

It also poses a serious danger to the nation's research base, the article quoted some of the most prominent American scientists and academics as saying.

Peter Michelson, a physics professor and senior associate dean for the natural sciences at Stanford University, blamed FBI Director Christopher Wray's "whole-of-society" hyperbole for whipping up anti-Chinese fervor at some companies and campuses, and fueling exaggerated mistrust of Chinese graduate students and engineers, according to the article.

Earlier, Wray claimed that China has taken a "societal approach to steal innovation."

"You don't cast a broad net like that. That's profiling," said Michelson, who co-chairs a project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to strengthen international science partnerships.

"We're trying to attract talent to this country, but I think some of his rhetoric, while perhaps unintended, puts a target on people's back. Words do matter," he noted.