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AllAfrica
6 days ago
- Politics
- AllAfrica
Behind Trump's flip-flop on Chinese student visas
President Donald Trump appears to have walked back plans for the US State Department to scrutinize and revoke visas for Chinese students studying in the country. On June 11, 2025, Trump posted on his social media platform TruthSocial that visas for Chinese students would continue and that they are welcome in the United States, as their presence 'has always been good with me!' The announcement came weeks after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that his department would begin scrutinizing and revoking student visas for Chinese nationals with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, or whose studies are in critical fields. The contradictory moves have led to confusion among Chinese students attending college or considering studying in the United States. Over time, Chinese nationals have faced barriers to studying in the US. As a scholar who studies relations between the two nations, I argue that efforts to ban Chinese students in the United States are not unprecedented, and historically, they have come with consequences. Student visas under fire The Trump administration laid out the terms for revoking or denying student visas to Chinese nationals but then backtracked. Photo: STAP / Getty Images / The Conversation Since the late 1970s, millions of Chinese students have been granted visas to study at American universities. That total includes approximately 277,000 who studied in the United States in the 2023-2024 academic year. It is difficult to determine how many of these students would have been affected by a ban on visas for individuals with Chinese Community Party affiliations or in critical fields. Approximately 40% of all new members of the Chinese Communist Party each year are drawn from China's student population. And many universities in China have party connections or charters that emphasize party loyalty. The 'critical fields' at risk were not defined. A majority of Chinese students in the US are enrolled in math, technology, science and engineering fields. A long history Since the late 1970s, the number of Chinese students attending college in the U.S. has increased dramatically. Photo: Kenishiroite / Getty Images via The Conversation Yung Wing became the first Chinese student to graduate from a US university in 1852. Since then, millions of Chinese students have come to the US to study, supported by programs such as the 'Chinese Educational Mission,' Boxer Indemnity Fund scholarships and the Fulbright Program. The Institute for International Education in New York estimated the economic impact of Chinese students in the US at over US$14 billion a year. Chinese students tend to pay full tuition to their universities. At the graduate level, they perform vital roles in labs and classrooms. Just under half of all Chinese students attending college in the US are graduate students. However, there is a long history of equating Chinese migrants as invaders, spies or risks to national security. After the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, the US Department of Justice began to prevent Chinese scholars and students in STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and math – from returning to China by stopping them at US ports of entry and exit. They could be pulled aside when trying to board a flight or ship and their tickets canceled. In one infamous case, Chinese rocket scientist Qian Xuesen was arrested, harassed, ordered deported and prevented from leaving over five years from 1950 to 1955. In 1955, the United States and China began ambassadorial-level talks to negotiate repatriations from either country. After his experience, Qian became a much-lauded supporter of the Communist government and played an important role in the development of Chinese transcontinental missile technology. During the 1950s, the US Department of Justice raided Chinatown organizations looking for Chinese migrants who arrived under false names during the Chinese Exclusion Era, a period from the 1880s to 1940s when the US government placed tight restrictions on Chinese immigration into the country. A primary justification for the tactics was fear that the Chinese in the US would spy for their home country. Between 1949 and 1979, the US and China did not have normal diplomatic relations. The two nations recognized each other and exchanged ambassadors starting in January 1979. In the more than four decades since, the number of Chinese students in the US has increased dramatically. Anti-Chinese discrimination The idea of an outright ban on Chinese student visas has raised concerns about increased targeting of Chinese in the US for harassment. In 1999, Taiwanese-American scientist Wen Ho Lee was arrested on suspicion of using his position at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico to spy for China. Lee remained imprisoned in solitary confinement for 278 days before he was released without a conviction. In 2018, during the first Trump administration, the Department of Justice launched its China Initiative. In its effort to weed out industrial, technological and corporate espionage, the initiative targeted many ethnic Chinese researchers and had a chilling effect on continued exchanges, but it secured no convictions for wrongdoing. Trump again expressed concerns last year that undocumented migrants from China might be coming to the United States to spy or 'build an army.' The repeated search for spies among Chinese migrants and residents in the US has created an atmosphere of fear for Chinese American communities. Broader foreign policy context An atmosphere of suspicion has altered the climate for Chinese international students. Photo: J Studios / Getty Images via The Conversation The US plan to revoke visas for students studying in the US and the Chinese response is being formed amid contentious debates over trade. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian accused the US of violating an agreement on tariff reduction the two sides discussed in Geneva in May, citing the visa issues as one example. Trump has also complained that the Chinese violated agreements between the countries, and some reports suggest that the announcement on student visas was a negotiating tactic to change the Chinese stance on the export of rare earth minerals. When Trump announced his trade deal with China on June 11, he added a statement welcoming Chinese students. However, past practice shows that the atmosphere of uncertainty and suspicion may have already damaged the climate for Chinese international students, and at least some degree of increased scrutiny of student visas will likely continue regardless. Meredith Oyen is associate professor of history and Asian studies, University of Maryland, Baltimore County This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The Hill
22-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Senator Fulbright had a vision. His successors must see it through.
Last week, 11 of the 12 members of the Fulbright Board of Directors resigned, citing political interference in awarding Fulbright Scholar awards for the upcoming year. This comes less than two weeks after ten students and six researchers left Sweden after nine months away from home, returning to America to continue their educational and professional paths. Unless something changes, this year's Fulbright research grantees to Sweden, and those to other countries around the world, may be the last to make the trip, as the entire international cultural exchange program budget faces elimination in the budget bill. Since it was founded in 1946, the Fulbright Program has enjoyed bipartisan support because it has always been aligned first and foremost with our national interests. In the words of Sen. J. William Fulbright (D-Ark.), the American politician and statesman who served in the U.S. Senate between 1945 and 1974, Fulbright was designed to be 'a modest program with an immodest aim — the achievement in international affairs of a regime more civilized, rational and humane than the empty systems of power of the past,' as he said when the program was signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. In order to continue this work, Fulbright's successors today must act to restore this important program that has been paying huge dividends for nearly 80 years. The Fulbright scholars in Sweden, including myself, hail from institutions across the country. After a rigorous selection process over the course of a year, they were chosen to represent our country abroad, facing long winter days, to study critical issues such as immunities in malaria infections, potential treatments for chronic kidney disease, root causes of autoimmune disorders, fair uses of artificial intelligence, strengthened safety regulations in long-range rescue operations, long-term sustainability of oceanic food sources, and enhanced access to medical services. The Fulbright Program runs on a tight annual budget of $288 million, representing a minuscule share of America's international relations budget. Scholars and students are deployed to 165 countries around the world. Stipends to grantees are exceedingly modest, covering only room, board and incidental expenses. Limited financial support encourages grantees to explore local resources and even share accommodations. To survive the Nordic winter when the sun appeared only two or three hours each day, the 15 researchers in Sweden spent their free time participating in local sports teams and volunteering at health clinics and community service organizations. Their presence in community activities helped forge lifelong relationships and spread goodwill at a time when America's hard power is frequently questioned abroad. Since the program's inception, Fulbright recipients have gone on to win 62 Nobel prizes, 96 Pulitzer prizes and 17 Presidential Medals of Freedom. Eighty-two have been named MacArthur geniuses and 44 have become heads of state. The list of Fulbrighters is long, distinguished and bipartisan. Fulbrighter Linus Pauling, one of the founders of the fields of quantum chemistry and molecular biology, won both the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the Nobel Peace Prize. Authors John Steinbeck, Edward Albee and John Updike were Fulbrighters, as is American soprano Renée Fleming. In the eyes of Fulbright, who himself received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993, the Fulbright Program was meant to bring a little more knowledge, a little more reason and a little more compassion into world affairs, thereby increasing the chance that nations will learn to live in peace and friendship. The 2025 Swedish Fulbright researchers, representing the best and brightest our country has to offer, have done their part to contribute to this goal. I wish our senators could have seen them in action as I have. At a time when governmental funding priorities are scrutinized for fiscal efficiency, the Fulbright Program stands as a proven investment in education and diplomacy while promoting American values worldwide and shaping future leaders. Fulbright helps build a stronger, smarter, more prosperous United States. Eliminating its funding would be a poor investment in America's future, making the world a more dangerous place in the process. Christie S. Warren, the 2024-2025 Fulbright-Lund Distinguished Chair in Public International Law, is Professor of the Practice of International and Comparative Law and director of the Center for Comparative Legal Studies at William and Mary Law School.
Washington Post
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Fulbright board resigns over alleged Trump administration interference
The entire 12-person board tasked with overseeing the State Department's Fulbright Program resigned Wednesday, claiming political interference from the Trump administration. In a statement posted on the board's Substack, the congressionally mandated Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board said its members voted 'overwhelmingly' to resign from the board 'rather than endorse unprecedented actions that we believe are impermissible under the law, compromise U.S. national interests and integrity, and undermine the mission and mandates Congress established for the Fulbright program nearly 80 years ago.'
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fulbright board members, accusing Trump of politicizing the program, announce resignation
Board members of the Fulbright Scholarship Program announced their resignation Wednesday, protesting what they call the Trump administration's politicization of the program, as the White House continues to find itself locked in a battle with universities around the nation. In a memo released on Wednesday, board members said they voted 'overwhelmingly' to resign in light of the actions of political appointees at the State Department, which manages the program. The 12-person board was appointed by former President Joe Biden. The program awards nearly 8,000 scholarships to academics each year, according to its website. The board said the administration usurped the program's authority when the State Department denied some of those awards for a "substantial number of individuals" for the 2025-2026 academic year, overriding the board's decision to admit academics studying subjects including biology, engineering, medical sciences, music and history. 'Our resignation is not a decision we take lightly,' the memo read. 'But to continue to serve after the Administration has consistently ignored the Board's request that they follow the law would risk legitimizing actions we believe are unlawful and damage the integrity of this storied program and America's credibility abroad.' The Fulbright Program directed a request for comment to the State Department, which did not immediately respond. However, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) — the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — confirmed the board members' resignation. 'While I understand and respect the bipartisan Fulbright Board for resigning en masse rather than grant credibility to a politicized and unlawful process, I'm painfully aware that today's move will change the quality of Fulbright programming and the independent research that has made our country a leader in so many fields,' Shaheen said. The Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board's page on the State Department's website — which earlier Wednesday listed a dozen members — only has one member on Wednesday afternoon: Carmen Estrada-Schaye, the president of Historic Homes Restoration, who was appointed to the board in 2022. Members on the board included several alumnis of Joe Biden's White House, including former deputy chief of staff Jen O'Malley Dillon, former head of speechwriting Vinay Reddy and Louisa Terrell, former director of the Office of Legislative Affairs. Congress established the Fulbright Program nearly 80 years ago and, according to the board, specified that the board has final approval authority of applicants. The program was established to 'increase mutual understanding and support friendly and peaceful relations between the people of the United States and the people of other countries,' according to the Fulbright website. Forty-four Fulbright alumni have served as heads of state or government, according to the State Department, while 62 Fulbright alumni from 15 countries have been awarded the Nobel Prize. Ninety Fulbright alumni have received Pulitzer Prizes. 'This proud legacy has depended on one thing above all: the integrity of the program's selection process based on merit, not ideology, and its insulation from political interference,' the board's memo said. 'That integrity is now undermined.' The board said it has repeatedly raised legal issues and strong objections with senior administration officials, including in writing, but officials have refused to acknowledge or respond to the board. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Since President Donald Trump began his second term, the White House has clashed with universities for programs and policies the administration has labeled divisive. Recently, the administration tried to stop foreign students and scholars from attending Harvard University. A court has temporarily blocked the administration from enforcing the order.
Japan Today
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Japan Today
Fulbright board resigns citing interference by Trump administration
FILE PHOTO: The seal of the United States Department of State is seen in Washington, U.S., January 26, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo/File Photo By Ryan Patrick Jones All members of the board that oversees the U.S. State Department's Fulbright Program, which facilitates international educational exchanges, have voted to resign over alleged political interference from President Donald Trump's administration, the board said on Wednesday. The Trump administration had unlawfully "usurped the authority" of the board by denying awards to a "substantial number" of people who had already been selected for the 2025-2026 academic year through a yearlong, merit-based process, the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board said in a statement posted on the website Substack. The department is also putting another 1,200 Fulbright recipients through an "unauthorized review process" that could lead to more rejections, according to the statement. The board members chose to resign 'rather than endorse unprecedented actions that we believe are impermissible under the law, compromise U.S. national interests and integrity, and undermine the mission and mandates Congress established for the Fulbright program nearly 80 years ago," they said. A senior State Department official accused the board members of being partisan political appointees from the administration of former President Joe Biden and called their mass resignation a "political stunt" meant to undermine Trump. "It's ridiculous to believe that these members would continue to have final say over the application process, especially when it comes to determining academic suitability and alignment with President Trump's Executive Orders," the official said. The Fulbright program, which was established in 1946, sends U.S. graduate students, scholars, artists, teachers, and professionals abroad to study, conduct research or teach English in approximately 160 countries worldwide. The program awards approximately 8,000 competitive, merit-based grants each year in most academic disciplines and fields of study, according to its website. The New York Times reported the board had approved the applications of around 200 American professors and researchers who were set to work at universities and research institutions in other countries this summer, and the State Department was meant to send acceptance letters to the applicants in April. Instead, board members learned the department's Office of Public Diplomacy had begun sending rejection letters to the scholars based on the topics of their research. "The bipartisan Fulbright Board was mandated by Congress to be a check on the executive and to ensure that students, researchers and educators are not subjected to the blatant political favoritism that this Administration is known for," Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement. "While I understand and respect the bipartisan Fulbright Board for resigning en masse rather than grant credibility to a politicized process, I'm painfully aware that today's move will change the quality of Fulbright programming and the independent research that has made our country a leader in so many fields," she added. Since taking office for his second term in January, Trump's administration has undertaken a major overhaul of the State Department, enacted massive funding cuts for academic research, and curbed visas for foreign students. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
