China has quite a few programs in place to use their students and expats for power projection. China United Front Work Department [1] tries to place PRC citizens into foreign companies in order to gather intelligence and influence them. Confucius Institutes [2] are widespread throughout American universities and use PRC international students to promote state interests.
The reality that Americans are unwilling to accept is that PRC nationals are agents of the state by default. Even if a PRC national doesn't fall into one of the above programs, they are still incentivized by China's social credit system to act in the state's interests, even while abroad.
Perhaps a dumb question but why doesn't the Chinese government crack down on this? I feel like they have a pretty good handle on what's going on within their borders, and this issue is poisoning the reputation of Chinese-born young people whether as applicants to companies, applicants to grad school, or generally as trustworthy human beings.
Is it because the college students benefiting from these operations are the children of influential people? That's the only explanation I can think of that makes any sense.
I'd hope so too, buy my grad school experience says otherwise.
Both Chinese CCP and Indian BJP recruit international students studying in the US for spreading propaganda. Maybe more- information gathering, spying... I don't know. I found average Chinese grads very tight lipped about their internal politics. While I didn't encounter any supposed Chinese recruit face to face, I saw Indians who, very amiable and friendly when met in person, would be sharing and posting misinformation and hate speech on social media on a regular basis.
I think this is a bit of an extreme response. I don't think the parent was suggesting that every Chinese PhD student in the US (or even a majority of them) is a CCP agent, just that it does happen, and the more Chinese PhD students who end up in the US, it's likely that more of them will be beholden to the CCP in some way.
I think your framing as "agents" is a bit sensationalized. You're evoking images of these highly-trained spies willing to do anything to steal for their country. My expectation is that most folks are just regular-Joe type people who just want a good education, but are pressured by their government to pass back certain kinds of information (with under-specified by scary consequences for their family if they don't comply). I have a lot of sympathy for the people who get caught up in this situation. They're people who are trapped in a way that requires them to pay a higher (moral) price to obtain a good education. I'm not sure I'd have the strength to behave any differently if I were in their shoes.
(Also consider that the US's industrialization was fueled by plenty of academic and industrial espionage. That doesn't make what goes on today ok, but let's not pretend our historical hands are clean.)
Foreign students from China know they'll have a very good chance at becoming one the oligarchs ruling the country, and as such likely think any tool as keeping the people subservient is a good thing.
I find it unlikely that Chinese rulers would want to send abroad anyone but its loyal opposers of democracy.
"Chinese student who studies abroad must become a member of the Communist Party."
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The chinese international students in US, have to become member of the Chinese Students Association. The association is a front for the Chinese govt via their Embassy to monitor the students.
"Perceived espionage" , there are plenty of convictions and proof of CCP using university "confucious centers" to recruit assets and entire police departments in US,Canada and EU to control chinese people who migrated to the US for these reasons. This reads like a highly biased hit piece.
I don't think the US is better off with foreign nationals that seek education in the US but have no desire to get permanent residency. Especially at public uni's and NSF funded programmes at private colleges.
There is the story which isn't new that China is using some students as spies. A long game where students end up staying in the USA after graduating and getting jobs in Industries where they pass information back to HQ/China.
A senior U.S. counterintelligence official recently said publicly what many officials and experts have been warning privately for years: China is using its large student population in the United States to spy.
A well-known Youtuber called Serpentza recently made a video about how Chinese students don't assimilate into American culture and how it is made difficult for them to assimilate, partly due to overt action from the Chinese government.
For one thing, Chinese culture is quite alien to western culture, and I don't mean that in a judgemental way, just that their spoken, written and body language is so much different that it is automatically harder for them. It doesn't help that they are told by the educational system and state media how great China is and how bad the US.
Also the students going abroad are highly selected. Not only for academic qualities, but students (or their families) who show a lack of loyalty to the state will have a tougher time even obtaining an exit visa. I wouldn't be surprised if cooperation with intelligence services in terms of spying on American universities isn't part of the deal, too.
Eh... I worked at a community college whose bread and butter was international students. Lots of them had really expensive cars. Not sure why China would send hundreds of operatives to infiltrate a community college and then pay to put them in flashy cars. It's more likely just rich parents.
My low-information view is that the Chinese government is an extraordinarily effective communications agency who very clearly understands the role that university students play in transmitting culture, especially when studying abroad, and has very openly worked to help spread their message throughout their diaspora.
Many US universities have a Chinese Student & Scholar Association and it's not like they try to hide that they are arms of the CCP. (Just for a random example https://myinvolvement.org/organization/cssaatualbany - "The Chinese Student and Scholar Association at the University of Albany is joined and organized by the Chinese students and scholars at the University of Albany of their own record. It is a nonprofit organization that is supported and guided by CCP through the Consulate-General of the PRC in New York.")
Mass organization can do incredible things -- a group of people is much more effective than the individuals.
Part of the reason is because the Chinese Students and Scholars Associations (CSSA) on most campuses, who work tightly with the local consular offices (read: CCP), dissuade Chinese students from mingling with foreigners lest they become "brainwashed".
It's surprising how few Chinese people study in America. With a population 1/14th of America, Australia has 150,000 Chinese students.
The US entry refusals should be familiar fare to Chinese citizens though, as their Govt employs stochastic enforcement all the time, including for censorship and as part of trade disputes.
It sucks for the individuals, but this really isn't about them, it's about the CCP and it's ongoing campaign of industrial espionage and global surveillance.
It is likely a number of 'students' were also part of the diaspora surveillance network, routinely reporting back about the behaviour of overseas Chinese citizens and especially minorities.
If China didn't have a massive state-sponsored corporate espionage program these students would have a case. But China does, so the students are going to have to deal with the vetting required to make sure they aren't a part of it.
There are tons of Chinese students studying in other countries. They are organized by Chinese consulate to "flex their muscle" against anything "anti-china".
Letting China control American universities may give China an opportunity to influence intellectual thought about the role of China in the world, and the abuses it has committed at home. There are multiple reports about China using money and influence to limit the free speech of students [1,2], and is consistent with reports that China is heavily investing in international propaganda[3].
Only a small fraction of the Chinese admitted into Harvard, MIT, Princeton and Stanford return after their education. Neither does most of Google and Facebook employees who are born in China. The brightest talents of China serve the United States mostly (even though the US places a lot of handicap on them, e.g. the cap on H1B). Can you now imagine why Chinese government is not incentivized?
I wish I had the link ready but this is actually not a brain drain, it’s a brain fill. China has government sponsored programs to actively send Han Chinese abroad but keep them loyal to the ‘motherland’ through local meetups.
They shape the way the public perceives them in foreign countries in ways that sometimes read like a spy novel.
Google “sharp power” for some insights into these tactics.
The reality that Americans are unwilling to accept is that PRC nationals are agents of the state by default. Even if a PRC national doesn't fall into one of the above programs, they are still incentivized by China's social credit system to act in the state's interests, even while abroad.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Front_Work_Department
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius_Institute
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