Cooperation between China and the United States in the field of science and education in 1969-1993.

Li Men Postgraduate Student, Department of International Relations, Belarusian State University 220030, Belarus, Minsk region, Minsk, Independence Ave., 4 conr123123@gmail.com

For China, a typical socialist country, and the United States, a capitalist country, political relations were the basis for the development of cooperation in the field of science and education. After the end of the Korean War, Sino-American relations were in a state of hostility. Normalization of relations between the US and China was one of the key diplomatic tasks of the US government headed by R. Nixon. In 1969, the United States began to take significant steps to improve relations with China. After the end of the Cold War, China and the United States lost their common strategic basis, and in the conditions of the new international situation, the US government led by B. Clinton initially took a course to suppress China. For the first time, China and the United States reached a consensus on stabilizing the development of bilateral relations in 1993. Changes in political relations between China and the United States in the period 1969-1993 provided an opportunity for interaction in the field of science and education, effective and fruitful exchanges and cooperation between the two countries, the experience of which was worthy of imitation for both developing and developed countries.

Significant measures to improve Sino-American relations began to be taken after the coming to power in 1969 of U.S. President R. Nixon. On July 21, 1969, the United States announced the easing of restrictions on movement and trade between China and the United States, allowing six categories of people to visit China, including journalists and members of Congress ^{[1, p. 326]}. This order opened up the possibility of exchanging human resources between China and the United States.

In April 1971, the Chinese side invited the American table tennis team to visit China, which put an end to the isolation that had existed between the two sides since 1949, and led to personal visits by American scientists to China.

During the visit of the US President R. In February 1972, China and the United States published a "Joint Sino-American communique" in Shanghai, after which Sino-American relations were normalized. Nevertheless, cooperation in the field of scientific and technical education has so far been only at the stage of establishing contacts between the two peoples and has developed rather slowly.

China and the United States officially established diplomatic relations in 1979. Deng Xiaoping, Vice President of the People's Republic of China, visited the United States on January 29, 1979. This was the first visit of a Chinese leader to the United States after the founding of New China ^{[2, p. 30]}. During the visit, China and the United States signed the "Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the United States on cooperation in the field of science and technology" (for a period of five years with a subsequent extension for another five years), which officially marked the beginning of cooperation in the field of science and education and contributed to the significant promotion of cooperation between China and the United States in this area.

In April 1989, there was a political conflict in China. In this regard, the United States imposed a number of sanctions on the grounds that China did not respect human rights. In the second half of 1989, the United States suspended scientific exchanges and cooperation between the two countries and simultaneously announced the exemption of Chinese students studying in the United States from the obligation to return to their homeland for two years of work, which led to the disruption of educational exchanges and cooperation between the two countries ^{[3, p. 328]}.

Visit of US Secretary of State J. Baker's visit to China in November 1991 made it possible to overcome the sanctions imposed by the United States against China, and the improvement of political relations contributed to the resumption of cooperation in the field of science and education. The visit of a delegation from the Chinese government on science and technology to the United States in December 1992 gave positive results and officially restored bilateral relations between China and the United States in the scientific and technical sphere. The American side declared its readiness to resume as soon as possible two agreements on cooperation in the field of medicine and nuclear safety out of 29 agreements between the United States and China, the validity of which has already expired ^{[4, p. 351]}.

In November 1993, Chinese President Jiang Zemin held the first official meeting with US President Barack Clinton in Seattle during an informal meeting of the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries, ending the low level of Sino-American relations after the end of the Cold War and creating more stable political conditions for bilateral cooperation in science and education.

The main factor influencing the Sino-American cooperation in the field of scientific and technical education in this period was the international political situation. During the Cold War, China and the United States held similar views on security issues, jointly opposing the hegemony of the USSR and maintaining their international authority. After the Cold War, China and the United States faced a conflict in their views on security issues, and at the same time, the emphasis of both sides largely shifted to how to cope with changes in the international political situation, and therefore the essence of Sino-American scientific and educational relations was still in interaction and development.

The difference in the levels of development in the field of science and education of the two countries contributed to complementary cooperation. As a result of the rupture of Sino-Soviet relations in the late 1960s and the consequences of the "cultural revolution", China seriously lagged behind the world level in the field of science and technology, the education system was in a state of stagnation, which led to a shortage of scientific talents.  In particular, China missed the beginning of the century of microelectronics and the information revolution, which changed the growth trajectories of Western economies and became the basis for the development of high technologies in the United States, Western Europe and neighboring East Asian countries ^{[5, p. 145]}. 

The resumption of scientific and technical production and the achievement of scientific and technical autonomy have become a matter of paramount importance for China. There were huge trade opportunities for the United States in the field of scientific and educational cooperation with China, and the expansion of the Chinese market was an urgent need.

The Sino-American scientific cooperation was one of the largest programs of foreign scientific and technical cooperation between the two countries. The development of Chinese-American scientific and technical cooperation in 1969-1993 was mostly smooth, and the cooperation itself was successful and productive.

Firstly, the number of human resource exchanges has been growing continuously. The first signs of a softening of Sino-American political relations appeared in 1969-1971, when only a few American scientists visited China. Among them, the following can be noted: in May 1971, the American plant physiologist A. Galston and the microbiologist E. Segner became the first two American scientists who came to China on academic exchange since 1949 ^{[6, p. 121]}. In July-August 1971, Yang Zhenning, an American physicist of Chinese origin, visited China.

The thaw in Sino-American relations that officially came in 1972 created favorable political conditions for American scientists to visit China. In the period 1972-1976 . About 12 thousand Americans visited China, mainly representatives of the scientific and technical community, and a significant part of them were American scientists of Chinese origin who made a significant contribution to the development of American science ^{[7, p. 80]}. After the end of the "cultural revolution" in 1977-1978, a reorganization of scientific and technical education was carried out in China, which created the necessary political conditions for the training of Chinese scientists in the United States.

After the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States in 1979, the number of exchanges of scientific and technical personnel between the two countries increased rapidly. In 1979, China sent 1,330 students and visiting scientists to the United States, in 1980 their number increased to 4,324, and in 1983 – to 19,000 ^{[8, p. 159]}.

As of the end of June 1988, as part of the implementation of the Protocol on Educational Exchanges between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the United States (signed in 1985 as part of the Agreement on Scientific and Technical Cooperation between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the United States), the Chinese side sent 43 thousand foreign students and scientists to the United States for training, advanced training and research ^{[9, p. 175]}.

All this happened despite the fact that in 1989 bilateral scientific and technical exchanges were interrupted as a result of the introduction of US sanctions against China. In June 1990, the US National Academy of Sciences announced the resumption of scientific exchanges between American and Chinese scientists. By 1993, in the context of improving bilateral political relations, Chinese-American scientific cooperation, although developing rather slowly, did not stand still.

Secondly, the forms of scientific cooperation were constantly enriched. Prior to the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, bilateral scientific exchanges were in the nature of establishing contacts between the two peoples and were carried out mainly in the form of mutual visits of delegations. During this period, private institutions became an important tool for the implementation of bilateral scientific exchanges.

The Chinese organizations affected by the "cultural revolution" were mainly responsible for assisting American institutions in organizing scientific exchanges. The US Committee on Scientific Relations with China (CSCPRC), co-chaired by the US National Academy of Sciences, the Federation of American Scientists and the US Council for Research in the Field of Social Sciences, as well as relevant Chinese institutions, organized mutual visits of Chinese and US delegations in various specialties, including natural, technical, social and humanitarian sciences.

For five years, starting from the second half of 1972 and before the official establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, the American side, through the Committee on Scientific Relations with the People's Republic of China, sent 36 scientific delegations totaling 430 people, an average of six delegations per year, each of which consisted of two people. At the same time, the Chinese side, on behalf of the Chinese Association of Science and Technology (actually implemented by the Chinese Academy of Sciences), sent a total of 43 delegations totaling 454 people to the United States, an average of 7 delegations per year, each of which consisted of 75 people ^{[10, p. 145]}.

Official cooperation has become the main form of scientific and technical cooperation since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States. A total of 27 government departments from the Chinese side, including 16 ministries and 11 national bureaus, and 18 government departments from the American side, including 7 ministries and 11 independent administrative departments participated in the official scientific and technical cooperation between China and the United States. ^{[10, c. 146]}. The forms of cooperation gradually evolved from the exchange of specialists and general study trips to the joint organization of scientific conferences, joint research, training and production ^{[4, p. 321]}.

Thirdly, the sphere of scientific and technical cooperation was expanding. Under the influence of political factors in the period 1969-1978, Chinese-American scientific and technical exchanges were relatively narrow.

After the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States within the framework of the "Agreement on Scientific and Technical Cooperation between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the United States", signed in 1979, the parties agreed on more than 500 cooperation projects, and also signed protocols and memoranda of mutual assistance in the field of sectoral cooperation in 27 areas, such as education, agriculture, high energy physics, management of industrial sciences and technologies, scientific and technical information, metrology, atmospheric science, oceanology, healthcare, hydropower, seismology, geology, environmental protection, fundamental sciences, architecture and urban planning, surface water hydrology, nuclear safety, nuclear physics and magnetic fusion, aeronautics, transport, statistics, geology of fossil fuels, geodesy and cartography, telecommunications, railways, nature conservation and space technologies ^{[4, p. 321]}.

The expansion of scientific and technical cooperation has led to a number of achievements in the field of research in specific disciplines.

The Sino-American cooperation in the field of high-energy physics should be highlighted in particular. During Deng Xiaoping's visit to the United States, the parties signed an "Executive Agreement on cooperation between the National Commission for Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China and the U.S. Department of Energy in the field of high energy physics", and in June 1979, the first meeting of the Sino-American Joint Committee on Cooperation in the Field of High Energy Physics was convened in Beijing, at which the mechanism of the committee's work was determined and it was decided to convene its meetings on an annual basis ^[11]. In 1984-1988, the Beijing Electron-Positron Collider (BEPC) was built, which enjoyed great success.

In addition, the China Digital Seismic Network project within the framework of the "Protocol on Cooperation between China and the United States in the Field of Science and Technology Related to Earthquakes" was quite successful. China and the United States jointly invested, designed, developed, created, tested and implemented this project. It passed technical acceptance by international seismologists in Beijing in October 1987, and after its completion, the equipment installed at 11 seismic stations was officially put into operation, generating high-quality seismic data ^[12]. These data were a valuable scientific basis for research on earthquake prediction and fundamental seismological research.

Thirdly, China and the United States have actively developed mechanisms for bilateral scientific and technical cooperation. The Joint Sino-American Commission on Scientific and Technical Cooperation, established in 1980, was an important mechanism for high-level exchanges and communication between the two countries. The Committee was designed to plan, coordinate, monitor and develop bilateral scientific and technical cooperation and was to hold its meetings every two years alternately in China and the USA ^{[13, p. 117]}. The Joint Commission provided a good channel for dialogue and consultation mechanisms for cooperation between the two countries in areas of mutual interest such as healthcare, energy, environmental protection, basic research, industrial science and technology. ^[12].

Educational exchanges and cooperation were an important part of Sino-American relations and contributed to strengthening public opinion about the friendship between China and the United States.

In general, the development of Sino-American cooperation in the field of education in 1969-1993 had an upward trend. This was primarily reflected in the increase in the number of foreign students studying in both countries.

The training of Chinese and American exchange students abroad began in 1978. In October 1978, a Chinese educational delegation visited the United States, as a result of which 11 oral agreements were reached between the two countries. During the visit, it was stressed that "in the 1978-1979 academic year, the United States will receive from 500 to 700 foreign students, graduate students and invited scientists from the Chinese side, and the Chinese side will receive 60 foreign students and invited scientists from the United States." The first 50 students arrived in Washington on December 15, 1978 ^[14].

In the first half of 1978-1991, the total number of Chinese students who left for the USA amounted to 70 thousand people, of which more than 40 thousand people studied at the expense of the state and more than 30 thousand people at their own expense ^{[15, p. 421]}. In the period 1979-1988, the number of American students who came to China reached more than 7000 people, most of whom studied Chinese, and some were engaged in research and the study of social sciences ^{[4, p. 323]}.

In 1989, the United States announced the cancellation of the obligation of Chinese students studying in the United States to return to their homeland for two years of training, which led to the disruption of educational exchanges and cooperation between the two countries. In the 1990-1991 academic year, the number of Chinese students in the United States was 39,597, or 9.7% of the total number of foreign students studying in the United States ^{[3, p. 331]}.

The increase in the number of forms of educational exchanges stimulated the dynamism of the development of bilateral cooperation. In 1969-1971, when the first signs of softening of Sino-American political relations appeared, bilateral educational exchanges were quite few.

After R. Nixon's visit to China in 1972, the National Committee on U.S.-PRC Relations (NCUSCR), which was an American non-profit organization designed to promote mutual understanding between the two peoples, provided channels for bilateral educational exchanges.

In December 1972, a delegation of the National Committee on US-China Relations (NCRC) made its first visit to China, where it visited educational institutions and discussed educational exchanges between the two countries with the Chinese authorities. The first American educational delegation visited China in August 1973 with the assistance of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. In November 1974, under the auspices of the Commission and at the invitation of the Chinese Educational Organization, the first delegation of rectors of American universities arrived in China for a three-week visit ^[16].

Educational exchanges organized by private institutions have laid a solid foundation for cooperation in the field of education between China and the United States. The establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States has led to the development of international educational cooperation programs.

In 1983-1984, 80 American universities established links with more than 100 Chinese universities, faculties and research institutes ^{[7, p. 81]}. The Center for the Study of Chinese and American Culture at Nanjing University and Johns Hopkins University became the first institution that China opened together with a foreign state after the introduction of a policy of reform and openness ^[17]. The Center was opened in 1986 to admit students from China and the United States to courses in political science, social studies, economics, culture, diplomacy, history and law of the two countries, as well as to train specialists and researchers dealing with issues of Sino-American relations ^{[7, p. 81]}.

The Sino-American Fulbright Program was one of the key intergovernmental programs for educational exchange between China and the United States, resumed in 1979. The 1985 Protocol on Educational Exchanges between the Governments of the People's Republic of China and the United States officially included the Fulbright program in the sphere of Sino-American cooperation. The program consisted of two parts: American specialists lectured in China, and Chinese scientists came to the United States for an internship, the subject areas were mainly humanities and social sciences, management and law ^[18].

Chinese universities and research institutes have developed bilateral educational exchanges through cooperation with the American Educational Foundation.

In 1984, the Chinese State Education Commission and the American Ford Foundation supported a program of economic education and research jointly developed by China and the United States. In November 1988, China and the USA signed an Agreement on academic exchanges and cooperation between the National Center for the Development of Education and Research of the PRC and the Carnegie American Foundation for the Development of Teaching in the USA. According to the agreement, both sides were to cooperate comprehensively in the field of scientific research in the field of education over the next three years, especially in the field of development, reform and policy development in the field of higher education ^[19].

Differences in political relations between China and the United States in 1989 affected cooperation in the field of education. In 1990, the Fulbright Program was resumed, within the framework of which official educational delegations from China and the United States exchanged visits.

It should be noted that, although cooperation in the field of scientific and technical education has achieved certain results, there were also some problems.

Firstly, cooperation in the field of scientific and technical education between China and the United States was accompanied by technology transfer, which was a very sensitive issue for Americans. In carrying out their policy, the American authorities often used a compromise approach, introducing various forms of restrictions in the field of educational exchanges, which, according to the American government, posed a potential threat to national security and military secrets, while preserving academic freedom.

Secondly, there were such phenomena as restriction or loss of educational resources. For China, the development of Sino-American scientific and technical relations opened access to valuable intellectual resources necessary for the restoration of the system of scientific research and higher education ^{[20, p. 19]}. However, due to the dominant economic and technical position of the United States, the level of productivity in China remained low. This, combined with the relatively high level of unification of political governance and restrictions on talent in China, made it less attractive to scientists in comparison with other countries, and led to the fact that Chinese students and researchers sent to the United States preferred to stay there.

Conclusion

Stable political relations were a prerequisite for the development of cooperation in the field of science and education between China and the United States. In the period 1969-1978, the political relations between China and the United States officially entered the "thaw" phase, and exchanges in the scientific and educational field resumed between the two countries. After the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1979-1988, cooperation and exchanges in the field of science and education entered the stage of official development. In 1989-1993, after the end of the cold War, Sino-American relations entered a period of friction, after a short break, bilateral scientific and educational activities were resumed, but this process was rather slow.

Some restrictions in the field of scientific exchanges, as well as the phenomenon of "brain drain" suggest that bilateral cooperation between China and the United States in the field of science and education in the period 1969-1993 was characterized by an asymmetric partnership with the dominance of the United States in the form of scientific and technical support for China and the training of talents on its order, the Chinese side acted as a student.

Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that the general trend of development of Sino-American cooperation in the field of science and education has been stable and has achieved fruitful results. In the period 1969-1993, the number of participants in the Sino-American scientific and educational exchange continued to grow, the level of cooperation also increased - from the exchange of visits of delegations organized by public organizations of both sides to the participation in cooperation of a number of official organizations; the scope of cooperation gradually expanded, significant progress was achieved in a number of specific disciplines, such as high energy physics and seismic studies.