Math is the foundation of everything. The Chinese know this too well and have dominated international math competitions for years.

So when the news came that U.S. high school students had won the first prize for a second consecutive year at the Romanian Master of Mathematics 2019, it was no laughing matter.

The dream team's head coach, Po-Shen Loh, speaks fluent Chinese, while the names of the three U.S. gold medalists suggest that two of them may be descendants of Chinese immigrants.

This reality has sounded an alarm in the math-loving country: China may be "exporting" our very talented people overseas, causing an inadvertent "talent deficit" on our side.

The Science & Engineering Indicators 2018, issued by the U.S. National Science Foundation, showed that in 2015, the proportion of China-born science and engineering doctorate holders living in the United States was the highest among all countries—accounting for 26.1 percent. Most likely, each of them has contributed in their own way to the advancement of science and engineering research and development in the most scientifically advanced country in the world.

Education is also an underreported trade sector. Normally in international trade, money flows into a country while products flow out. But in this case, the product—education—never leaves the country.

U.S. universities, with their advanced technologies and research capabilities, have attracted millions of international students. According to the 2018 Open Doors Report, during the 2017-18 school year, more than 360,000 Chinese students studied in U.S. higher education institutions, the largest number among all countries.

Some top-performing Chinese students stay on in the United States, eventually causing a talent deficit for China.

The Denver Post reported in 2017 that education was the seventh largest export industry for the United States. China is actually running a huge deficit compared to the United States in terms of the exchange of international students, as the number of U.S. students in China was only about 12,000 in 2018.

Moreover, Chinese students contributed $12 billion to the U.S. economy in tuition, room and board and other expenses. That is equivalent to the United States selling 3 billion Big Macs, 15 million iPhone X handsets, 300,000 Ford Explorers, or 120 Boeing 737 aircraft. Chinese students have also helped create 150,000 U.S. jobs, according to estimation of the U.S. Association of International Educators.

This is partly why when the U.S. Government was reportedly going to reduce the number of visas for international students, Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow chose China for his first overseas visit after taking office. He said maintaining and deepening exchanges and cooperation between the two countries' education and cultural institutions is crucial to promoting U.S.-China relations in the long run.

When these students come back to China, they not only bring back better English and refreshing knowledge on various subjects, they also continue living a U.S. lifestyle: drinking Starbucks coffee during tea break, teaching their kids to play baseball and listening to U.S. pop music.

Many countries agree that international students and scholars are one of their greatest foreign policy assets, helping them to stay in touch with future foreign leaders and business tycoons.

Rick Dunham, Co-Director of the Global Business Journalism program at Tsinghua University, told Beijing Review that China has many more youths with an understanding of the United States than U.S. youth who have an understanding of China.

China needs a lot more young people who have a better understanding of China across the Pacific Ocean. Chinese higher education institutions should work to retain the most talented Chinese students at home while attracting more students from the United States, not only for the purpose of closing the "talent deficit" gap, but also as an investment in a new generation of leaders who will know China better.

It is imperative that they do this now.

Copyedited by Rebeca Toledo

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