China US Photo:GT

US politics is severely poisoning international science, as it marshaled 100 Nobel laureates to criticize China for trying to prevent two secessionists from speaking at a scientific conference in April, said analysts, noting that it is the US, and those who accused China of "bullying scientific community" that are insulting science.

The US-based Science magazine reported that more than 100 Nobel laureates signed a statement expressing outrage after the Chinese government intended to "bully the scientific community" earlier this year with attempts to prevent two Nobel laureates, also infamous secessionists, Dalai Lama and Lee Yuan-tseh, a chemists from island of Taiwan, from speaking at the Nobel Prize Summit, organized by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the Nobel Foundation in April.

The statement alleged that the Chinese embassy in Washington contacted the NAS in March and April, insisting that the two should not be allowed to speak; but such requests were abruptly rejected by the NAS, it reported.  

The Chinese embassy could not be reached as of the press time.

Yet observers said that preventing those two notorious figures from speaking at a scientific conference is a legitimate request. 

The feudal serfdom represented by the 14th Dalai Lama once posed a violation of human rights to Tibetan people, and after he fled to India, he has colluded with the US, plotting a slew of activities to separate China. Lee has a notorious reputation in Taiwan, with Taiwan media calling him "a political chemist without integrity."

Asking those two figures to speak at a scientific conference shows a toxic tendency in the US of letting politics override science, Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times. Li said that the US is seizing every opportunity to hurl mud at China, and trying to give China hard feelings. But instead, it has sabotaged its own scientific reputation.

The expert said that the US attempt to politicize coronavirus origins probes has been exposed, with around 60 countries already writing to the WHO, opposing the politicization of the issue. "The US is in no position to demonize China for bullying the scientific community," Li said.

Steven Chu, an American physicist, who later served as Secretary of Energy in the Obama administration, was among those who initiated the statement. 

Li explained that scientists who signed the statement had fallen into a trap of people like Chu, a half scientist, half politician. "Many scientists lack an overall understanding of politics in the US and China, as they fail to see the US has descended into a country that puts politics above everything."

Led by Chu, they easily landed on a deviated track and grouped together to hurl insults at China, according to Li, warning if the trend grows, international cooperation in science will be severely hobbled.