Amid growing anger from his political base, US President Donald Trump has defended his proposal to admit 600,000 Chinese students over two years, but analysts warn that the policy reversal may not ease the pathway to American colleges.
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Reaction to last month’s announcement prompted the administration, which previously “aggressively revoked” visas for Chinese students, to clarify that the plan would be implemented over two years, bringing the total to just above the existing annual enrolment levels of nearly 280,000.
Trump said in a number of media interviews – including one with the conservative news outlet Daily Caller released on August 31 – that without the Chinese students, the US college system “would go to hell very quickly” and that it would be “insulting” to reject them.
Dennis Lu-Chung Weng, an associate professor of political science at Sam Houston State University in Texas, said the proposal was “part of Trump’s broader negotiation strategy with China”.
It was likely that the plan was intended “to create a more positive atmosphere ahead of a potential meeting with President Xi Jinping”, he said.
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“I would caution Chinese students not to interpret this as a policy shift just yet. The overall climate in the US remains highly sceptical towards China and there are no indications that visa procedures will be streamlined any time soon.”