China put forth a draft Degree Law recently that includes harsh consequences for degree holders who use artificial intelligence tools to ghostwrite their dissertations. These aggressive measures reflect a conundrum that the country’s academia and wider community finds themselves in: how can China balance between the desire for technological progress and the fear of losing its identity and autonomy?
Politics
While most of the world have condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and see it as unjust and even foolish, the Chinese people have shown their support for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Chinese academic Andrew Huang notes that this is most likely driven by their perception that the US and the West are arrogant and have always made things difficult for China in various settings. This has led to the Chinese being willing to cheer for anyone that can stand up to the US.