The Trump administration plans to revoke thousands of visas held by Chinese graduate students and researchers in the United States, escalating its crackdown on the Chinese government’s theft of intellectual property.
Those with direct ties to universities affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army will have their visas canceled, American officials with knowledge of the discussions told the New York Times. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed the matter with President Trump on Tuesday at the White House.
The expulsions could affect at least 3,000 students, according to some estimates. Though it’s a small percentage of the approximately 360,000 Chinese students in the U.S., it is likely to spark pushback from universities that rely on full tuition payments from international students and critics who say the administration’s crackdown is contributing to anti-Asian racism.
Chinese researchers and students have been under increased scrutiny from the U.S. government over the Chinese government’s economic espionage. In recent years, the FBI and Justice Department have briefed universities on potential national security threats posed by Chinese students.
The number of arrests related to Chinese espionage cases has risen dramatically in recent years, U.S. officials said in February. As of February, there had already been 19 arrests this fiscal year, according to Justice Department statistics presented at a conference on Chinese economic espionage. Many of those arrests are linked to American universities and laboratories.
Beginning in 2018, the State Department began limiting the length of visas for Chinese graduate students working in fields considered sensitive.
The effort to cancel visas gained more traction after Yanqing Ye, a Chinese researcher at Boston University, was accused of lying to authorities about her status as a lieutenant in the People’s Liberation Army.
According to the FBI’s wanted poster, Ye completed “numerous assignments” for the People’s Liberation Army while she was studying in the U.S., such as “conducting research, assessing United States military websites, and sending United States documents and information to China.” Ye, who was charged with visa fraud, making false statements, and acting as an agent of a foreign government, has not been arrested because she’s believed to be in China.
Relations between the U.S. and China have already turned sour as the two countries are involved in a tit for tat over trade, technology, and media access.
Republican lawmakers proposed legislation on Wednesday that would prevent Chinese nationals from receiving visas for graduate or post-graduate studies in science and technology fields.
