With more than 500 Chinese students denied visas to study in U.S., Weibo users are protesting, analyzing

China Daily reported on July 7th that more than 500 Chinese students with offers to do graduate studies as STEM majors at American universities were denied visas, their hopes dashed. The reason was the Presidential Proclamation 10043 signed by former President Trump in 2020, which restricts entry of those associated with China’s “military-civil fusion strategy.”

The spokesman of China’s Foreign Ministry called it “poisonous legacy of the Trump administration” that   runs counter to the Biden administration’s statement of “welcoming Chinese students,” and urged the U.S. to correct its mistakes.

On Weibo, some agree with the Foreign Ministry, others say Chinese students shouldn’t want to study in a declining U.S. anyway.

#U.S. denied visas for 500+ Chinese graduate students of science and engineering#

Observer net:  An informed person recently interviewed by China Daily revealed that in recently days, more than 500 Chinese graduate students of science and engineering were rejected by the U.S. in their visa application to travel to the U.S. On the one hand, the Biden administration tries to answer the call of American universities to enroll Chinese students to ensure their tuition income, while on the other, it is continuing the wrong policy of suppressing Chinese students and scholars of science and engineering, seriously harming the rights and the interests of the Chinese students studying abroad.

Captain Crow:  In recent days, the U.S. denied visas for more than 500 Chinese graduate students of science and engineering. Studying abroad used to be the only way to get gilded, and the “sea turtles,” or returned students, were another name of the elite. Now years later, U.S.-China relations are as tense as pulled bow and sword, with such discriminatory policies. Under the grave situation of the pandemic, the glory of the returnees is no longer there. The fever of studying abroad is itself becoming something to reflect on. Some even express this way: It is fine to have been rejected. They shouldn’t have tried to go in the first place!

ObGyn doctor Wang YL:  Good students going abroad is a loss for China. Rejecting them is a loss for the U.S. Good students should stay in China, and Chinese universities will also get better and better. In the past, we were poor, the scientific research and teaching was limited. Now China has strengthened its economic power, the level of scientific research and teaching will get higher. When we also have quality students, the world is ours.

Su Qinglian:  I have mixed feelings about this, from the point of the country as well as the individual. One thought I have is that I feel lucky that I didn’t change my major in the U.S. to liberal arts. Didn’t a U.S. senator say that Chinese students should better come to the U.S. to study Shakespeare? I guess liberal arts, for them, are harmless subjects.

Immigration expert Zhang YH:  Since the beginning of the Biden administration, there have occurred to our scholars and students going to the U.S. a series of obstructions or rejections of visas, prolonged searches and questioning at airports and even returning on the same plane, harassment in the U.S., unreasonable detentions, interviews by security agents, etc. Those families with resources should get a Green Card or E-2 visa, have objective and rational assessment and expectations of studying or visiting as scholars in the U.S., and avoid unnecessary losses.

Tan HJ micro finance:  In the past, the U.S. really welcomed students from China, especially from first-class schools such as Tsinghua University, Beijing University. The reason was that many among these students remained in the U.S. and became a “treasure” the U.S. found.

In those days, the U.S. was very attractive to good Chinese students. At the same times, the loss of them, China’s greatest wealth, was also very serious.

With the rapid development of China’s economy, China’s need for talents has greatly increased. In recent years especially, China’s environment for development is better and better, with more and more emphasis on talents, bigger and bigger room for them to play. Many students abroad have chosen to return to China to contribute, with smaller and smaller number of them for the U.S. to keep. Now the U.S. has raised the threshold higher and higher for the Chinese students, even obstructing visas. It is obvious that the U.S. is in panic.

Commentator Li W:  By denying Chinese students their visas, the U.S. government has given four signals:

1. Chinese are not welcome to study science and engineering in the U.S.;

2. The U.S. is not willing to give visas to Chinese to study on American scholarships;

3. The U.S. likes Chinese spending money on American education, but not studying science & engineering;

4. China’s higher education in science and engineering is not as good as in the U.S., so U.S. has an upper hand!

Brother Ming with a little understanding:  Does this mean the probability would be bigger of those science and engineering students returning to China? The pandemic is so rampant in the U.S. Do you even think it is wise to go and study there now?

Cold mountain wind:  Imperialist U.S. is once again picking up a rock to drop on its own foot. China already has so many world-class universities. China leads the world in science and technology. China has long left the imperialist U.S. several street blocks behind. There is absolutely no need to go and study in the declining U.S.

Liu Zhixiang V:   ​The bottom line of “America First” is this: No one should surpass the U.S. If there is a possibility, then it is either you do not share my values, or you use forced labor, or you practice genocide. In addition to political and economic suppression, there is also blocking of technological exchanges. If you want to know when the U.S. begins to lose its leadership position, it is now.

Wood knife Wang:  Since the U.S. does not want Chinese students to study there, we in China should reflect on it. Is there no problem for our companies to rely on Red Hat CentOS? Not to say commercial software like Oracle database. Anyway, I used to balance between Debian/Ubuntu and Fedora, now I am just on the one side of Debian/Ubuntu.

User stop10043:  I am now experiencing what is like when years of your hard work get wiped out in one day. It doesn’t matter, however, as I am still young. I have a lot of time to improve myself. The only thing to do is keep moving forward.

Light weapons engineer Wang:  For many years, the U.S. has benefitted from the Chinese students flowing into their country. Just like what Ren Zhengfei (founder of Huawei) said, we raised chickens who went on to lay eggs at another house, and then we had to buy those eggs at a high price. The crux of the issue is where the students choose to stay after the study. If they stay in the U.S., that means China has helped the U.S. by giving those students a free primary and high school education while the U.S. only pays the cost of their graduate schools. If the students return to China, it would mean that the U.S. has helped China educate these graduate students. This is a gamble. Now the U.S. has started restrictions. It means it is no longer confident about this gamble. As to where the students would ultimately choose to stay, patriotism would play a limited role. It would mostly depend on where one has room to grow. For science and engineering students, it would be which country invests more in scientific research and offers better conditions.

Lonely smoke dusk cicada:  If you cannot see it is McCarthyism returning, you are blind. Why doesn’t the U.S. limit Chinese students of liberal arts? It is because it is easy to brainwash them, as the discourse power of these subjects lies with the West, especially in finance, economics, law, etc., which I have come to deal with a lot, all Western values.  Science and engineering, however, are technical, brainwashing is more difficult, as all depends on one’s ability. The U.S. is now very much like the Qing Dynasty, closing and complacent. However, we need to think differently. If our first-class talents won’t go abroad, then our universities will need to reform thoroughly, so they can train them well, keep them in China, and let them shine.