Why Republicans want to ban Chinese nationals from studying in US?

1. Why Republicans want to ban Chinese nationals from studying in US?

Why Republicans want to ban Chinese nationals from studying in US? ByHT News Desk | Edited by Asmita Ravi Shankar Mar 15, 2025 06:27 PM IST Share Via Copy Link The spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, said that China “expresses strong concern and firmly opposes such practices."

A group of Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Friday moved a legislation seeking to ban Chinese national students from studying in American schools. But why China? It's because some lawmakers flagged national security concerns.

The bill seeking to ban Chinese students in the US was introduced by Republican representative Riley Moore. (AP)

The bill was introduced in the House by Republican representative Riley Moore. The legislation could possibly prohibit Chinese nationals from getting visas to travel to the US for study or exchange programme purposes.

Even though the bill is unlikely to be passed, it has drawn heavy objection and criticism from scholars and organisations across the States and the globe.

Along with Republican Riley Moore, five others co-sponsored this legislation seeking to prevent Chinese students from studying in the US.

In a statement, Moore justified that by granting visas to Chinese nationals, Washington has "invited" the Chinese Communist Party "to spy on our military, steal out intellectual property, and threaten national security".

He said that it was time that America turns off the "spigot and immediately ban all student visas going to Chinese nationals".

The spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, said that China “expresses strong concern and firmly opposes such practices."

Pengyu further said that education and cooperation has long served as a pillar for the consistent development of China-US relationship.

Fanta Aw, executive director and CEO of NAFSA, an association of international educators, said that no policy should target individuals just on the basis of their nationality.

“Making international students — the most vetted and tracked non-immigrants in the United States — a scapegoat for xenophobic and anti-Chinese sentiment is misguided and antithetical to our national interest," Aw added.

Meanwhile, the Asian American Scholars Forum noted that such a legislation would not only harm the talent pipeline of Asian American scientists, scholars and researchers, but also undermine the US leadership in science and innovation.

Yangyang Cheng, a research scholar at Yale Law School's Paul Tsai China Center, said that the legislation “should be seen as part of a broader effort to restrict academic freedom and hurt higher education in this country, to control what can be taught, which research projects can be pursued, and who have access to the classrooms and laboratories.”

In the academic year of 2023-24, over 277,000 Chinese nationals were studying in American universities and accounted for a quarter of the total number of international students, an annual report from the Institute of International Education said.

However, the number of Chinese students in the US has been in the down trend for years now. Last year, China lost its status to India as the top country to send international students to the States.

In 2023, Florida passed a legislation banning state universities from hiring students from China and six other countries for the positions of graduate assistant and postdoc positions. This law has been challenged in the court.

Additionally, several American universities have ended academic partnerships with Chinese schools amid increasing pressure from Republican legislatures over national security concerns.