[Source: Reuters]

When 25-year-old biology student Yao’s PhD program enrollment was deferred due to funding cuts at her U.S. university, she joined a growing list of Chinese students exploring other destinations.

Visa revocations and university funding cuts by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump have become a source of anxiety for international students. Those from China face additional challenges due to Washington’s trade war with Beijing and the increasing vilification of Chinese citizens, students and industry insiders said.

“I used to think politics was far away from me, but this year I really felt the impact of politics on international students,” Chicago-based Yao said, declining to give the name of her prospective university.

China had accounted for the biggest international student body in the U.S. for 15 years, until it was overtaken by India last year. The economic impact of Chinese students on the American economy was $14.3 billion in 2023, according to Open Doors data.

But within the United States, the community has been portrayed as a national security threat – likened to spies sent across by the Chinese Communist Party – and threatened with proposed legislation that could bar them from universities.

Reuters spoke to 15 Chinese students, eight of whom were in the U.S., who said the compounded issues have spiked safety concerns and intensified financial constraints, forcing them to rethink their American dream.

Since Trump returned to the White House, more than 4,700 students have been deleted from a U.S. immigration database, making them vulnerable to deportation.

Chinese students have accounted for 14% of 327 visa revocation reports collected so far by the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

BRANDED SPIES

Last month, the U.S. House’s select committee on China sent letters to six universities requesting information on enrollment policies for Chinese students in advanced STEM programs, and questioning their involvement in federally funded research.

Committee chairman John Moolenaar wrote America’s student visa system had become “a Trojan horse for Beijing” that provided unrestricted access to top research institutions and posed a national security threat.

China’s foreign ministry urged the U.S. to “stop brandishing national security as a false pretext” for discriminatory and restrictive measures targeting its students.

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have also proposed the “Stop Chinese Communist Prying by Vindicating Intellectual Safeguards in Academia Act” that would halt student visas for Chinese nationals.

New York-based non-profit Committee of 100, a grouping of prominent Chinese Americans, has said the bill betrays American values and weakens the U.S.’s leadership in science, technology and innovation.

Duke University Professor Chen Yiran said the idea that Chinese students rush home to help Beijing compete with the U.S. was a fallacy.

“Most of them still want to stay in the U.S.,” Chen said. “They’re from middle-class families, they pay the millions (in yuan) for these few years, they want to get the investment back.”

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