Days after the Canadian authorities arrested one of China’s leading technology executives at the behest of Washington, Cisco warned some employees that China might return the favor.

In an email with the subject line “Travel Restriction to China,” the Silicon Valley networking giant cautioned employees against nonessential travel to China “due to recent events.” Cisco has since said that the email was sent in error and that there are no China travel restrictions on its employees.

Still, the fear is real.

The arrest this month of Meng Wanzhou of Huawei, the Chinese telecom giant, appears to have put a certain kind of elite — tech-savvy, comfortable in both countries — square in the middle of the economic conflict between the United States and China. For many Chinese tech entrepreneurs, the United States suddenly doesn’t seem like the same place that welcomed them to study, work and raise money. That could be a big problem for both countries.

Already, some tech types are reconsidering their travel plans, if not their connections, to the other country. Many see a bit of themselves in Ms. Meng. As Huawei’s chief financial officer and daughter of the company founder, she is a member of a tech elite that has long thought of itself as too valuable to be threatened. (American authorities say she was part of a plan to avoid American sanctions against Iran. Huawei says it is unaware of any wrongdoing on her part.)