A dramatic drop in US student visas issued to Chinese and Indian nationals is the latest flashpoint in the debate over education and security after an American think tank framed the decline as a benefit for US students and national security.
The report by the Washington-based Centre for Immigration Studies (CIS) has triggered a backlash in China, where Chinese media accused the organisation of recycling claims that Chinese students could pose security risks and of politicising normal academic exchanges.
Published this week, the CIS report analysed US State Department data to show that F-1 student visas issued to Indian nationals fell 60 per cent and those to Chinese nationals declined 46 per cent compared with average levels from previous years.
The report said the decline, if sustained, could “greatly benefit American students and national security”. It argued that having fewer Chinese students in the US could cut risks linked to technology transfer and espionage.
“Reductions in the number of PRC students coming to US colleges and universities will reduce the overall level of espionage and technology theft on campus and will be to the benefit of US national security,” it said.
China’s nationalistic Global Times tabloid said in a commentary on Wednesday that the report failed to offer evidence on how overseas students had threatened US security, and that the student visa policy was “a deeply polarising topic in the US and has become highly politicised”.
It said the sharp drop in visas issued to Chinese students was not because any “spies” had been uncovered among them.
“Rather, it is the direct result of a series of US political manoeuvres – suspending interviews, comprehensive social media screening, layered background checks and public statements advocating ‘enhanced scrutiny’ for students from specific countries,” the commentary said.