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Commentary
As the Trump administration revokes visas for Chinese students, critics cry xenophobia, but evidence shows that the United States has been training and funding China’s future military and tech dominance.
The U.S. State Department, under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has announced it will begin
revoking visas for Chinese students, particularly those studying in critical fields or with ties to the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The move represents a renewed effort by the administration to sever academic ties between the United States and China amid growing national security concerns.
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China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law obligates
all citizens and organizations to assist in intelligence work, with Article 14 authorizing state agencies to compel such cooperation. As a result, any Chinese national—even those living, studying, or working in the United States—could be legally required to act under the direction of the CCP. This includes more than 270,000 Chinese nationals enrolled at U.S. institutions during the 2023–2024 school year.
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Under the
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), individuals or entities in the United States who act at the order, request, or under the
direction or control of a foreign government must register with the Department of Justice as foreign agents, disclosing their activities, funding, and affiliations. Given the binding nature of China’s intelligence law, it is reasonable to argue that Chinese nationals in the United States could meet FARA’s definition of a “foreign agent.”
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Over the past decade, the CCP has been repeatedly identified as the top
intelligence threat to the United States. The
FBI and Department of
Homeland Security have documented numerous cases involving Chinese nationals stealing sensitive information from American institutions.
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In February 2024,
Gong Chenguang, a Chinese national in San Jose, was charged with allegedly stealing trade secrets, including files related to nuclear missile detection technology.
In March 2024, Ding Linwei was indicted for allegedly attempting to steal artificial intelligence trade secrets from Google.
In April 2024, Li Han and Chen Lin were indicted for allegedly illegally exporting semiconductor processing equipment to China.
In September 2024, two separate indictments charged Wu Song and Wei Jia with allegedly stealing military-related technology.
And in October 2024, five Chinese nationals, all recent graduates of a joint University of Michigan–Shanghai Jiao Tong University program, were indicted for allegedly conspiring to delete evidence from their phones related to restricted research.
A September 2024
report by the House Select Committee on the CCP reveals that due to insufficient legal safeguards in the fields of academic and scientific research, hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. federal research funding over the last decade have inadvertently contributed to the CCP’s strategic goals, particularly in advancing dual-use, critical, and emerging technologies.
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Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security echoed these concerns
in a letter to Harvard University, accusing it of cooperating with the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a Chinese paramilitary group sanctioned by the United States for human rights abuses. The letter states that Harvard repeatedly trained XPCC members and used Department of Defense funding to collaborate on research with Chinese military-linked universities, including Tsinghua, Zhejiang, and Huazhong, involving projects with potential military applications.
In similar cases, House Republicans recently pressed Duke University to cut ties with a Chinese partner, while Eastern Michigan University preemptively ended two engineering collaborations with Chinese universities under similar pressure.
Beijing reacted angrily to the U.S. visa cuts, accusing
Washington of lying. But while Beijing refuses to admit it uses graduate students to steal U.S. technology, it also ignores the stark lack of reciprocity. In 2023, while more than 270,000 Chinese students studied in the United States, only about
800 Americans pursued full-time
degrees in China. The CCP is outraged by U.S. immigration policies, yet in fiscal year 2024, the United States naturalized
818,500 new citizens, including 24,300 born in China. By contrast, according to the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, China naturalized just 1,570 people in 2016, a record year.
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Sadly, some members of the U.S. government continue to downplay the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), for example, called President Donald Trump’s plan to revoke Chinese student visas “
xenophobic” and claimed it would weaken U.S. national security, a deeply ironic stance given the magnitude of the CCP’s threat to the United States.
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Meanwhile, the CCP actively conducts influence operations through social media and news outlets, attempting to reshape public opinion by portraying itself as benign and framing any criticism as racist. Some media outlets argue that losing Chinese students will
harm American education and innovation, framing it as a brain drain that could slow
U.S. technological progress.
But Chinese students come to the United States precisely because American universities are superior to those in China, and most return home, taking valuable knowledge with them. In effect, the United States is training its future competitors.
The CCP’s messaging has persuaded some Americans, particularly on the political left, to reject even the possibility that Chinese students might be working on behalf of the Communist Party. Such concerns are often dismissed as modern echoes of the “Yellow Peril” panic of the early 20th century.
Meanwhile, Trump is somewhat hamstrung, required to work within the constraints of the U.S. legal and constitutional system. As a result, efforts to deport Chinese nationals or revoke
student visas face
opposition from
activist lawyers and are often delayed or
blocked by court rulings. While these constraints are rooted in American freedoms, they hinder national security efforts.
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The 2024 House report warned that
hundreds of millions in U.S. defense research funding may have inadvertently supported CCP-linked institutions. Through funding and by training communist China’s top scientists, the United States is, in effect, helping to build the Chinese regime’s military and technological power. Rather than reinforcing American leadership, academic partnerships are strengthening the CCP.
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Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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Udumbara
