How Trump Administration Targeting Chinese Students Was Years In The Making

The United States' plans to “aggressively” revoke visas for Chinese students did not happen in a day. US President Donald Trump and his allies had been laying the groundwork for this since years.

In 2023, in a campaign trail, Trump vowed to ban “Christian-hating communists, Marxists and socialists” from the country, shut down China-funded Confucius Institutes on U.S. college campuses and even prosecute Chinese scientific researchers and professors working at US universities. 

“The president laid it out there in the campaign… when he says he's going to do something in the campaign, he actually tries to do it,” said Ken Cuccinelli, who was Trump's deputy of Homeland Security during his first term, per a report by the Politico.

“The reason people like me raised it in the first term is the reason you're hearing from Rubio — there are very real security reasons to not help the Chinese advance their position in technical fields, and certainly not anyone more closely associated with [the Chinese Communist Party].”

The administration has China hawks who have been focussed on cracking down China's influence on US institutions.

About 277,000 Chinese students studied in the US last year, and Marco Rubio, Secretary of State has vowed to “aggressively revoke” the visas and said that they will focus on people with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or those studying sensitive subjects.

“The Secretary made this decision in the administration's ongoing effort to protect our homeland from espionage and other hostile actions,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

China has condemned the policy and termed it “unreasonable”, one that “damaged the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese students and disrupted the normal cultural exchanges between the two countries.” The policy further complicated ties between the countries which are already battling strained ties since Trump put a 145 per cent tariff on Chinese goods but ultimately reduced it to 30 per cent after a temporary agreement with China. Similarly China also reduced the tariffs on the US from 125 percent to 10 per cent.

This week the US curbed critical US technology sales to China, including software that is used to make semiconductors. 

The visa revocations for Chinese students comes as the initial step in removing Chinese influence from the United States. Trump allies hope the next target will be funding for universities working with Chinese grad students. 

Moreover, US immigration law bars members of the Communist Party from becoming naturalised citizens or green card holders, however, these rules do not apply to people in the United States on student or tourist visas. 

“Those who come to enjoy our country must love our country,” Trump said. “We're going to keep foreign, Christian-hating communists, Marxists and socialists out of America.”

Legislation to limit Chinese nationals from obtaining visas for STEM-related studies had been introduced as early as 2020 by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) He applauded the administration's decision in a statement, saying “China's use of students to spy on political dissidents and American researchers is a well-documented national security threat.”

Rubio too had introduced a bill in 2021 targeting Chinese nationals in 2021. He pressured local colleges to shut down their Confucius Institutes when he represented Florida in the US Senate. He said in 2022, vocally opposing China, saying that it “is the most formidable near-peer adversary our nation has ever faced.”