View of UCLA. (Photo: CGTN)
Washington (People’s Daily) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent decision to halt entry of some Chinese graduate students to the U.S. has stirred great debate in California. The Los Angeles Times has published an article titled “It's the new Chinese Exclusion Act,” saying that this new ban will hurt California universities.
U.S. officials say that Trump’s order, which took effect last week, is aimed at safeguarding national security by barring Chinese graduate students and researchers associated with institutions deemed to support China’s “military-civil fusion strategy.” That strategy, the order says, involves Chinese efforts to acquire foreign technologies to advance China’s military capabilities.
However, the Los Angeles Times claimed that Trump’s new ban was sowing broad anxiety, particularly in California, as universities fear they could lose an essential source of research talent. “Universities are deeply concerned that the order could lead to vast overreach, wrongly shutting out students whose work is non-military, openly published and critical to American research efforts in fields ranging from climate change to energy storage.”
It is reported that, Trump’s crackdown could drive away top Chinese scholars and jeopardize the kind of open international collaboration that has been a hallmark of higher education in the U.S., contributing to world-class research and scientific progress. Universities in California are waiting for more details on the order from the Trump administration, including which Chinese universities will be covered by a visa ban, but a State Department official said a list would not be published “anytime soon.”
China has been the largest source of international students to the United States for 10 consecutive years, according to the Institute of International Education. In 2018-19, students from China numbered 369,548 — about 34 percent of all international students — and California was their top destination.
Susan Shirk, a leading China expert with UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy, said “we’re concerned about a slippery slope here. I’m definitely concerned that it would very much discourage talented Chinese students from doing graduate work or research at American universities, which would be very counterproductive from the standpoint of our scientific and technological innovation.”
UC student leaders have condemned Trump’s order. “The Trump Administration has provided no credible evidence to justify this unprecedented crackdown on international students,” said the statement by UC Student Assn. President Varsha Sarveshwar and UC graduate and Professional Council President Connor Strobel.
“Chinese students, like many of our students … bring tremendous intellectual power to the institution, make great contributions to the research effort,” said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. “To the extent possible, we’d like to keep open borders and maintain a rich sort of global presence in our student body … recognizing that we do understand there are security issues and we have to be mindful of those.”