Category: Foreign Influence, China, Higher Ed;
Reading Time: ~5 minutes
The Trump administration has rolled out the welcome mat for Chinese students.
A few months ago, when Chinese President Xi Jinping held a meeting with President Trump regarding the ongoing trade war between China and the United States, President Xi requested that Chinese students maintain access to American higher education in exchange for China reducing tariffs and the United States receiving continued access to rare earth materials. Trade talks have been ongoing, and last week, President Trump made a statement that he intends to welcome 600,000 Chinese students into American colleges and universities, more than doubling the number of Chinese students currently enrolled.
Though the trade deal is not set in stone, this is surprising for a number of reasons.
First, that Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced back in May that the Department of Homeland Security would “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields”—a decision the National Association of Scholars (NAS) applauded because of China’s long-standing position as a malign foreign influence in higher education.
Second, Chinese espionage and security threats to the United States have been well-documented. Chinese influence operations on American college and university campuses and throughout our education system have inadvertently equipped China with the technological know-how to outperform us—artificial intelligence capabilities are a perfect case study of this. As a separate example, back in June, two Chinese students were arrested after attempting to smuggle or ship biological material into the United States for use at the University of Michigan (UM). Following the two separate instances, the Department of Education (ED) opened an investigation into UM’s foreign funding under Section 117. Note that this also came after the ED announced crackdowns on foreign gifts valuing more than $250,000 per year received by American colleges and universities—a move that NAS has long urged to increase transparency in higher education.
Why the United States persists in further educating students from adversarial foreign governments—with little to no oversight— is baffling. Especially considering current ED investigations and past instances of China’s malign influence, some of which were exposed and shut down. Or even taking into consideration the credible cases of espionage and pervasive instances of academic dishonesty by Chinese students.
While there are bad apples in every bunch, the data seems to suggest that on the whole, China’s interest in American higher education is parasitic. Chris Crandall, in an article for Minding the Campus, puts it aptly, “As Chinese students continue to flood into American institutions of higher education, domestic students lose, the American economy fails, and our technological competitiveness diminishes.” In a respective article addressing the situation with China, NAS’s Senior Fellow of Foreign Affairs and Security Studies Ian Oxnevad paints the picture about China’s relationship with American higher education well,
Once accepted to U.S. universities, Chinese students get 'briefed and debriefed' by Beijing. Even if Chinese students carry pure motives to study in America, they are nonetheless coerced by the CCP, which can easily threaten family members back in China. On the U.S. side of the equation, American universities are happy to charge foreign students a higher tuition than American students, effectively incentivized to discriminate against American citizens. As it is, American students are drastically behind in math and science when compared to their international peers. This is a recipe for geopolitical disaster, and Trump’s proposed policy will throw gasoline on an already well-lit fire.
So, not only does the influx of more Chinese nationals into our colleges and universities pose a threat to American national security and further expose classified research, more foreign students discourages further recruitment of Americans into much needed STEM and novel research fields. While the exchange of ideas between countries is beneficial—especially in education—prioritizing the influx of international students over Americans is not the path to lasting cultural exchange. (My colleague Jared Gould, the managing editor of Minding the Campus, has written extensively about the H-1B visa program and the many pitfalls that plague the program.)
When weighing the risks and benefits of increasing the presence of Chinese students on college and university campuses, the United States government should consider whether it can effectively enhance monitoring and accountability measures to safeguard our national security and technology. These plans should also prioritize the education and careers of American students over foreign nationals. In the past, such accountability measures have fallen short.
Read more about how the Chinese government influences and corrupts America's colleges and universities in this just-published essay by Peter W. Wood.
Until next week.
Kali Jerrard
Communications Associate
National Association of Scholars
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