Pushkar Sinha
The US government has rejected the visas of over 500 Chinese students by enforcing a policy set up by the Donald Trump administration. This is another solid action taken by USA against China. The policy has been put in place to prevent Chinese students from stealing American technology and giving it to the Chinese military. Chinese spying had become rampant in the US in the past few years.
Even those students, who were already enrolled in US universities, have found their visas have been taken away. Many Chinese students were hoping to go back to universities in America after attending classes at home in China. Students from various disciplines have been targeted out, especially STEM fields where Chinese spying is extensive.
Hence, even those students who were enrolled in courses that are deemed as STEM, such as M Sc in Finance, have found their visas to be revoked. Though finance may not be directly connected to the military, theft of financial technological and sensitive data is always there.
Chinese spying has not only resulted in disadvantages for its students, but businesses and other individuals have been affected. The policy keeps those who are affiliated to the Chinese communist party, the People’s liberation Army or universities that work on military projects from entering the US.
It is known that thousands of Chinese students and researchers are connected to the Chinese government programs. These problems coerce students to steal medical, computer, and other technical information and bring it to China.
A 2020 report from the US state government department explains that the CCP exploits researchers, students and private businesses so it can build its military.
The US state department exposed China’s hidden plans – its government has plans for Civil Military fusion. This means it treats private businesses and universities as partners- willing or unwilling – that will help China develop new technologies and keep ahead of its competition.
President Joe Biden has made no statements regarding the same, but during Wendy Sherman’s – the US deputy secretary of state – visit to China, Chinese officials requested her to drop the Visa restrictions.
It has been made clear to China that the policy has been put into place to protect US National security. It is repeated Chinese actions that have forced USA’s hands.
It should also be noted that though 500 visas have been rejected, 85,000 others have been approved. China should be thankful, as this is something they have brought upon themselves. One can never be too careful while dealing with the Chinese. Hence, it is clear there is no discrimination, and that those who are qualified have received visas.
Even spouses of Chinese nationals are not given a visa if it is established that they work for the CCP or the military. In one case, a Chinese researcher’s spouse was not given a visa as it was found that he went to a Chinese school that was connect to the Chinese ministry of Industry and information technology. In fact, he’s currently an engineer with a company that builds aircrafts in China. His wife will have to reduce her trip to one year as she cannot afford to be away from family for so long. In August, US sent back three Chinese students home from the Houston airport, as agents found photos of military training on their phones.
China is fuming. It’s foreign ministry spokesman said that China deplores and rejects the policy.
Some lawyers are working with a group of 2000 students as they plan to request the US government to remove the restrictions or at least ease them. It is clear Chinese spying has bitten it back. Many Chinese universities are claiming that their graduates have been blocked from entering USA. Many said they cannot continue their studies without coming to the U.S. this year because their classes are no longer available online.
The truth is the policy has affected very few genuine students and has vastly helped to curb Chinese spying.
Any sovereign country has the right to chose students according to its needs. Many Chinese student’s have been caught sending back information to mainland China from the US. Compared to the Trump regime, Biden is supposed to be much lenient as far as immigration to the US is concerned. But if a country does not found favor, it is clear that there is something wrong.
Author
