|
Washington, D.C. (July 25, 2022) – A new report by the Center explores the nexus between the large population of foreign students from People’s Republic of China (PRC) studying and working in the United States and PRC economic and military espionage. U.S. universities and OPT employers are educating and training Chinese students of whom a percentage are reporting to the Chinese government or will eventually work for a variety of organizations, including the People’s Liberation Army, which are hostile to U.S. national security interests. Many of these students are benefitting from visa policy changes that took place during a time when policymakers assumed that China would liberalize as a result of increased engagement. But China has not liberalized. Last year, the chairman of China’s Central Military Commission stated that “war with the United States in inevitable.” Immigration policies need to reflect today’s reality.
Department of Justice reports show that from 2011-2018, more than 90 percent of the cases alleging economic espionage by or to benefit a state involved China. Yet the number of students from the PRC at U.S. universities has skyrocketed in recent years to 317,299, representing more than one-third of all foreign students. The PRC government considers every one of these students an intelligence asset, and pressures them all to gather whatever intelligence they can during their time in this country.
George Fishman, the Center’s senior legal fellow, said, “It may be time to consider barring the entry of, or issuance of visas to, all students and exchange visitors from the People’s Republic of China, or at least those who will be studying in STEM or other fields likely to give them access to information and research of value to the People’s Liberation Army.” He continued, “While of course not every such student will engage in deleterious activities while in the U.S. (or after they return home), a sufficiently large number will. Given the impossibility of the U.S. government conducting sufficiently in-depth background checks on each of them a blanket ban might be the only effective alternative.”
The United States must balance attracting bright foreign STEM researchers and addressing the threat posed by nontraditional intelligence collectors. In getting this balance right, Fishman presents two key questions to policymakers: Does the United States have the ability to effectively vet PRC students? What is the economic and national security risk that is acceptable to the United States?
Fishman commented, “There is much speculation on China’s intent to use force to control Taiwan. If China does invade Taiwan and we come to Taiwan's defense, what risks would the United States face from hundreds of thousands of national PRC students here?”
|
