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.

The U.S. plans to revoke visas for Chinese students, citing security concerns related to the Chinese Communist Party. This policy, backed by Trump allies, aims to curb China’s influence in U.S. education and has worsened already strained U.S.-China relations.

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.

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