WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Frayed by tariff wars and political battles, the academic ties between the U.S. and China are now facing their greatest threat yet as the Trump administration promises to for an unknown number of Chinese students and tighten future visa screening.
In a brief statement Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. will 鈥渁ggressively鈥� revoke visas for , including those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party or studying 鈥渃ritical fields.鈥�
Rubio鈥檚 statement threatened to widen a , building on a yearslong Republican campaign to rid U.S. campuses of Chinese influence and insulate America's research from its strongest economic and military competitor.
Rubio鈥檚 announcement has rattled Chinese students and drawn swift condemnation from the Chinese government and some U.S. lawmakers. The Chinese Embassy on Thursday said it 鈥渓odged a solemn d茅marche with the U.S. side without delay鈥� and urged the U.S. to correct its mistake and protect the rights of Chinese students. The visa policy also raised alarm at U.S. campuses that host more than 275,000 students from China and benefit from their tuition payments.
Chinese graduate student Kesong Cao, 26, decided to abandon his studies in the U.S. because of Trump鈥檚 policies.
鈥淚 do not feel welcome anymore,鈥� said Cao, a student of cognitive psychology at the University of Wisconsin, who was waiting at Seattle's airport Thursday to board a flight home to China.
Cao spent eight years in the U.S. and once dreamed of staying as a professor. 鈥淣ow it seems like that dream is falling apart,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a good time to jump ship and think about what I can give back to my own country.鈥�
The scope of the visa crackdown wasn't immediately clear, with no explanation on what would constitute ties to the Communist Party. But the impact could be significant if the government goes after any student with family members in the party, said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center.
Academic ties with China were built over decades
Academic leaders in the U.S. have spent years trying to tamp down growing hostility against Chinese students and scholars, saying the benefits of the relationship outweigh the risks. Collaboration between the countries produces tens of thousands of scientific papers a year, yielding major advancements in fields from earthquake prediction to disease treatment.
The academic alliance has been built up over decades since both sides resumed diplomatic ties in the 1970s. Chinese researchers are the most frequent international co-authors for U.S. researchers in science and engineering journal articles. Both sides are research powerhouses.
Any move that prevents the U.S. from welcoming the smartest people in the world is an 鈥渆xtremely bad idea,鈥� said L. Rafael Reif, a former president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who pushed back against anti-China sentiment during President first term.
鈥淭his administration will be known historically as the one that began the decline of the U.S. by completely failing to understand the importance of science and technology 鈥� and the importance of gathering the most talented human capital from the world to work together towards a thriving United States,鈥� Reif said in a statement to The Associated Press.
Erica Zhang, who graduated from George Washington University in December and is awaiting approval of her green card, said the new policy is 鈥渉orrifying.鈥�
鈥淭his is racism, any division based on identity and nationality is racism,鈥� Zhang said. 鈥淚t is just a start, it will expand to a bigger group of Chinese, not just Chinese students.鈥�
During his first term, Trump shortened the visas of some Chinese graduate students from five years to one, and he signed an order barring Chinese students from schools with direct links to the People鈥檚 Liberation Army.
More recently, the administration has taken sweeping action against international students. It for thousands of foreign students in the U.S. this spring before . The administration is also trying to from enrolling for students, a move put on hold by a judge.
David Lampton, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University, is worried the U.S. will lose talent. 鈥淎merican universities and society have always successfully relied on their single-minded search for the world鈥檚 best brains,鈥� he said.
Yet critics say it鈥檚 a lopsided relationship that primarily benefits China.
Some conservatives say the exchanges are a US security risk
A State Department spokesperson, Tammy Bruce, told reporters Thursday that the U.S. will not tolerate the Chinese Communist Party's 鈥渆xploitation of U.S. universities or theft of U.S. research, intellectual property or technologies to grow its military power, conduct intelligence collection or repress voices of opposition.鈥�
House Republicans last year finding that hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding has gone toward research that ultimately boosted Chinese advancements in artificial intelligence, semiconductor technology and nuclear weapons. The report argued China鈥檚 academic collaborations served as 鈥淭rojan horses for technology transfer,鈥� accusing China of 鈥渋nsidious鈥� exploitation of academic cooperation.
At least their partnerships in China, including the University of Michigan and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Eastern Michigan University was the latest to terminate a Chinese partnership, just hours before Rubio鈥檚 announcement.
Critics also point to the imbalance in student exchange 鈥� a year, compared to about 370,000 from China who studied in the U.S. in 2018. President , in 2023, launched a campaign to invite 50,000 young Americans to visit China on exchange and study programs.
U.S. universities themselves have come to rely on Chinese students. Even as numbers level off, Chinese students remain the second-largest group of international students in the U.S. behind those from India. Foreign students are typically charged higher tuition rates, subsidizing the education for American students.
Gary Locke, a former U.S. ambassador to China, said the visa policy would 鈥渁dversely and profoundly鈥� affect U.S. higher education, research institutions, scientific discovery and startups.
鈥淭he real story isn't just about visa numbers 鈥� it's also about how this changes the competitive landscape for talent, innovation and economic growth in America. Treating every Chinese student as a security threat distorts facts and fuels discrimination against Chinese Americans,鈥� said Locke, now chair of the Committee of 100, a group of prominent Chinese Americans focused on U.S.-China relations and issues faced by Chinese citizens in the U.S.
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Associated Press writers Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco, Matthew Lee and Fu Ting in Washington, and Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press鈥� education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP鈥檚 for working with philanthropies, a of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Collin Binkley And Didi Tang, The Associated Press
