Trump defends plan for 600,000 Chinese student visas amid criticism

3 comments

1. Starter:
   Trump has doubled down on a plan to grant 600,000 student visas to Chinese nationals. This is a surprise given that Trump and the MAGA movement have been generally considered to be “America first” and anti-China. But it also seems like a big strategic mistake, given the long history of asymmetric warfare from China against America and many other countries, like cyber attacks and intellectual theft. There have also been many recent Chinese startups in fields like AI that are founded by Chinese nationals who studied in American universities and worked at American tech companies before returning to China to found companies that may in the future threaten American economic or military dominance ([example](https://asiatechdaily.com/alibaba-leads-1-billion-investment-in-moonshot-ai-for-llm-development/)).

   Trump was pressed on this issue in this interview with Laura Ingraham, but gave responses that don’t really make sense. For example he suggested that France, of all countries, is just as bad as China when it comes to spying and intellectual property theft, as if to say China is no bigger a problem than European allies of America. He also said that Chinese students help sustain the university system in America because they pay more in tuition per student, which of course makes no sense, since the system is mostly funded by American students and taxpayers and replacing the tuition paid by these students isn’t that big an expense for the US.

   Leaving aside America, I’d also say that China is a threat to democratic societies in general, since China doesn’t practice democracy, and the Chinese government doesn’t uphold basic democratic values like free speech. China has also already committed abuses in its illegal annexation and [sinicization of Tibet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinicization_of_Tibet) and [sinicization of Xinjiang](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinicization#Xinjiang). A strengthened China is also a threat to Taiwan of course.

   The US probably was wrong to grant China [normal trade relations in 2000](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States–China_Relations_Act_of_2000). But the threat posted by China is more obvious now. What explains Trump going soft on China in multiple ways like delaying the TikTok ban repeatedly, having higher tariffs on countries that are friendly with America than on China, and this issue of student visas? Or do people here think granting these visas is still the right decision despite these risks?

2. So now we know what Trump gave up to get the deal with China a few weeks ago. 

3. Cool. Finally a piece of good news coming from his administration. Yes granting student visas is good. It’s good for our universities and good for the Chinese students and even good for the American students who get to interact with Chinese students in real life.

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