Chinese academic institutions oppose IEEE's ban on Huawei-funded experts

Ten Chinese academic institutions expressed their opposition in a joint statement against the decision by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers to ban employees and scientists funded by Huawei Technologies Co from peer-reviewing its research papers.

Ten organizations, including China Institute of Communications, Chinese Institute of Electronics, Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence, said in the joint statement that as academic institutions with long-term cooperation with IEEE, "we resolutely oppose the politicization of academic communication, resolutely oppose the attempts to challenge the free and equal academic exchange standards, and resolutely oppose the act of undermining a fair and equitable academic environment."

The statement came after IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organization, sent emails to its members detailing that Huawei colleagues cannot peer-review any papers until the US restrictions on the Chinese company are removed. The move came after the US banned Huawei from accessing any US technologies without special government approval.

The statement also called on scientists, scientific organizations and academic communities around the world to pay attention to the major crisis in this academic world, jointly defend international standards of academic exchanges, and ensure that scientific research is not politicized.