Will China’s mathematicians join a global effort to boycott the United States?
Question hovers as world’s premier mathematics conference faces revolt over American visa rules and foreign policies
In the world of mathematics, the United States is becoming an outlier.
The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) – the world’s most important mathematics conference and the venue for awarding the prestigious Fields Medal – is facing worldwide opposition because the US is hosting this year’s event in Philadelphia in July.
More than 2,300 mathematicians from at least 76 countries have signed an online petition to “move the 2026 ICM out of the US” and “commit not to participate in the ICM if it is to be held in the US”.
“Just as many mathematicians objected to Russia’s hosting of ICM on the basis of its invasion of Ukraine, we argue that the current American government disqualifies the US from hosting the ICM in 2026,” according to the letter, referring to the Ukraine war that started in February 2022.
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“We emphasise that the violence perpetrated internationally by the US government directly connects to the primary concern of safety and well-being of conference participants,” the letter said.
“Even if mathematicians from the 75 countries for which the current US administration has suspended visa processing are able to obtain conference visas, how can we expect such mathematicians to safely visit Philadelphia and engage fruitfully in the conference without fear of harm and unlawful detention?”
These are the issues Chinese and foreign mathematicians based in China now confront as they weigh up whether to go.
However, Yau noted that US visa restrictions for attendees of certain nationalities would constitute a “double standard” when considering the cancellation of the 2022 ICM event in Russia.
As head of the Yau Mathematical Sciences Centre at Tsinghua University and the Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Applications, the 1982 Fields medallist said he would follow the decision of the International Mathematical Union (IMU).
The IMU is a non-governmental group promoting international cooperation in mathematics and decides where ICM events will be held. Since 1900, the ICM has been held every four years, with a few exceptions.
“Last time, in 2022, many of my Russian friends were really excited to be able to prepare for the ICM in St Petersburg,” Yau said. “At the last minute [the IMU] cancelled it because of the Ukraine war and this, of course, upset many Russians who spent a lot of work preparing for it.
“This time, America is giving some possible trouble at the government [level] for people coming from Russia, for example … based on visa control.
“This got many people upset and we felt it was a double standard.
“To me, we would still support the congress in Philadelphia, but it is not up to me. We support it. We still have people going there to support this event.”
Yau said he had suggested to the IMU that his team could be ready to help host certain segments of the event, but he doubted that his proposal would be accepted.
“For those who could not go to Philadelphia because of political reasons, we are free to support them to host some part of it [in Hong Kong]. But I think [the IMU] will not do it.”
“While major countries struggle to separate academia from politics, Hong Kong remains one of the few fully open and truly global cities,” he said.
“Backed by the Chinese mainland, we can steadily host top scientists worldwide and build Hong Kong into a world-leading academic hub.”
Separately, Yau has proposed “establishing an Asian Mathematical Society centre in Hong Kong that will cover China, Russia, India, Japan, Iran and beyond, radiating across Asia and the globe”.
Yau said that “many people are fed up with the American policy of discriminating against the Chinese, Russian, Iranian and [others]”, adding that many brilliant young scientists “probably would not feel comfortable in America in the future”.
In contrast, China’s non-discriminatory environment would attract diverse talent, he argued. “The most brilliant minds will think, ‘why not go to China? It is peaceful and does not discriminate against me.’ I think it will naturally attract many good people.”
According to the event’s visa information page, “visa requests remain the sole responsibility of each individual traveller and beyond providing a letter of invitation, the ICM Organising Committee and/or the International Mathematical Union cannot provide further support”.
In March, the IMU said its executive committee “understands the concerns about entering the United States, as well as about feeling safe and welcome in Philadelphia and at the [ICM]”.
“The local organising committee is fully committed to providing a safe and welcoming environment for all participants and has recently made additional arrangements to help mitigate risk,” it added.
“At a time when international collaboration and science face serious challenges, we strongly believe that holding the ICM in person in Philadelphia is especially important.”
Kaveh Dastouri, an Iranian-born mathematician and postdoctoral fellow at the Beijing International Centre for Mathematical Research of Peking University, is one of a dozen mathematicians based in China who signed the petition opposing America’s hosting the 2026 event.
Dastouri said he “hopes the IMU will soon decide to move the congress to a safe country with no hostile policies and without travel risks”.
He said believed the IMU should avoid applying double standards and relocate the congress from the US, just as it moved the congress from Russia in 2022 to a largely virtual event, with the general assembly and award ceremony held in Helsinki, Finland.
“Some may argue that such an event should be kept separate from political issues,” Dastouri said. “If that is the case, then relocating ICM 2022 from Russia was also a mistake, and the IMU should now acknowledge that and admit it was wrong.”
He cited “the extremely bad conduct of the US government” including the war on Iran, which has involved a school bombing, air strikes on universities and scientific institutes, as well as threats to destroy the country’s infrastructure and civilisation.
Dastouri also pointed to other “hostile policies” including “the illegal abduction of Venezuela’s president, repeated threats to take over Greenland and aggression towards Cuba”.
“Given the strict US government policies on visa issuance for foreign nationals, as well as the travel risks to the US – especially when protests against the government are taking place in several states and the police have a history of mistreating immigrants – holding such an important event in the US is completely unreasonable,” he said.
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“The US president has deliberately and explicitly dismissed the safety of Iranian football players participating in the World Cup [which America is to co-host this summer with Canada and Mexico], threatening them directly.”
“How can mathematicians be expected to go there under such conditions?”
Huang Pengfei, an associate professor at Nanjing University’s mathematics school, said that holding the conference virtually was an alternative worth considering.
“I signed the petition because I have long believed that the ICM, as the most significant and representative international conference in the mathematics community, must adhere to the fundamental principles of broad, equal and practical participation,” Huang added.
“My primary concern has never been the politicisation of mathematics.
“Rather, it is my sincere hope that the truly international character of the ICM is preserved.
“If numerous international colleagues are hindered from attending due to visa restrictions, real-world constraints or other non-academic factors, the openness and representativeness of the ICM will be compromised, which contradicts its original intent.”
The Cuban Society of Mathematics and Computer Science endorsed the petition and said it “cannot in good conscience recommend participation in the upcoming ICM for Cuban mathematicians, if it is to be held in the United States as planned”.
“Safe passage to and from the United States is not at all a guarantee,” it added. “Cubans run the risk of not obtaining a visa if the ICM is held in the US.”
In January, the French Mathematical Society said it would not have a booth at the ICM in Philadelphia.
“Neither the issuance of visas by the host country nor its internal security, where martial law is regularly invoked, seems guaranteed,” it said.
Additional reporting by Victoria Bela