By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-14 15:21:26 | Updated at 2025-03-14 21:24:35
6 hours ago
Chinese students studying in the United States could again become caught in geopolitical crossfire if Republican lawmakers press ahead with legislation to bar them from obtaining visas.
Republicans in the US House of Representatives are set to introduce a bill on Friday to stop Chinese citizens from obtaining student visas, citing the threat of espionage.
Although the likelihood of the bill’s passage remains low, the proposal sends a chilling message to Chinese students, with some bracing for disruption to their academic futures and coming up with backup plans.
The bill targets all Chinese nationals regardless of the student’s field or level of study. Representative Riley Moore of West Virginia, the sponsor of the bill, previously said that far too many Chinese students served as intelligence gatherers or paid spies for China’s Communist Party.
“We cannot eliminate this threat by simply devoting more time and money to the visa vetting process,” he said.
Chinese citizens make up the second-largest group of foreign students in the US, after Indian nationals. In the 2023-2024 academic year, 277,398 Chinese students were in the United States, a total that has steadily declined since the 2019-2020 school year.
