Endless Controversy? Trump Expels International Students
Controversy has been swirling in the United States lately. Since President Trump returned to the White House, his administration has made sweeping changes across multiple sectors—many of which have stirred intense public debate. One of the most talked-about developments is his bold move to reform and rein in the nation’s higher education institutions.
In early June of this year, President Trump signed a presidential proclamation directing the Department of Homeland Security to issue an executive order aimed at halting the issuance of F-1, M-1, and J-1 visas to all incoming Harvard students within six months. The order also authorizes the State Department to consider revoking existing international student visas—marking a significant escalation in the administration’s approach to foreign enrollment in U.S. higher education.
This policy has left many puzzled—and some are questioning whether authoritarianism is making a comeback. If America prides itself on being a land that welcomes all, then why are its universities—long celebrated as bastions of open-mindedness and academic freedom—now being told to shut their doors to international students?
Trump justified the policy by claiming that international students at Harvard pose a threat to national security. According to him, these students have incited criminal behavior on campus and have even been involved in serious acts of antisemitism, fueling a wave of hostility against Jewish communities. He further argued that Harvard maintains close ties with the Chinese Communist Party and has assisted in training members of China's paramilitary organizations.
In fact, while Trump is known for his blunt rhetoric, he appeared unusually restrained when explaining this policy. What he left unsaid is that many international students arrive not only to study, but also carrying out assignments from their home countries—engaging in various forms of infiltration on American campuses. Chief among these actors is China.
Chinese Infiltration: The Expansion of Red Capital in U.S. Higher Education and Research Institutions
In recent years, China has aggressively sought to expand its global influence by employing a range of infiltration tactics. One of its key strategies has been to collaborate with academic institutions and business organizations in other countries. By offering generous funding and partnering on research projects, China has gradually entangled foreign higher education and research institutions with its red capital, tightening the grip of its influence.
Take Harvard University as an example: China has established cooperative ties with several advanced education and research institutions connected to Harvard, signing agreements and launching joint projects. These collaborations span sensitive and high-tech fields such as robotics, aerospace, and optics—and in some cases, they extend into technologies with direct implications for national defense. According to a Republican congressional report, these partnerships go far beyond academic exchange. Research funded in part by U.S. sources has been found to flow into Chinese military applications, including advanced sensors and navigation systems.
Beyond research collaborations, China has also funneled substantial funding to Harvard through various channels. According to Harvard’s own disclosures, since 2022, the university has received as much as $16 million in donations from China—making it the third-largest source of foreign contributions. Additionally, a Hong Kong tycoon once donated a staggering $350 million to Harvard, leading the university to rename its School of Public Health after the donor’s father, T.H. Chan. In 2014, JT Capital—a firm with reported ties to the Chinese military—contributed $10 million to Harvard. At the time, analysts raised concerns over the opaque nature of such donations and their potential implications for U.S. national security.
Concerns about China stealing technology under the guise of scientific cooperation are not baseless. The National Bureau of Asian Research has previously published estimates indicating that China’s acts of technology theft cost the U.S. economy hundreds of billions of dollars annually. A separate report by the Hoover Institution further revealed that China has systematically targeted all sources of American innovation—including universities, national laboratories, and private companies—in an effort to exploit the openness and freedom of the U.S. system to gain technological advantages. Ironically, the academic freedom so highly valued by American universities has now become a convenient gateway for China’s ambitions in intellectual property theft.
The Chinese Communist Party is actively seeking to seize and appropriate research that is critical to both economic and military power through various channels. In addition to engaging in economic espionage, theft, and forcing technology transfers through numerous joint venture partnerships, the CCP has also gained access to valuable emerging technologies by investing in U.S. high-tech companies and exploiting the openness of American university laboratories.
Under this overarching strategy of “comprehensive technology theft,” China has sent large numbers of students and researchers to top American universities, using various pretexts and methods to steal U.S. scientific achievements and advanced technologies. For example, in 2020, two Chinese nationals working at Boston University and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center were found to have close ties with the Chinese government, and were even suspected of smuggling research samples out of the country.
Another case involved the Beijing authorities using multiple entities to funnel substantial research funding to a Harvard University professor, requesting his assistance in establishing a nanoscience research laboratory at Wuhan University of Technology. This case raised serious concerns about the illegal transfer of U.S.-based research technologies and scientific achievements to China.
In addition, media investigations have analyzed partnerships across approximately 2,900 universities nationwide and found that between 2012 and 2024, nearly 200 U.S. institutions signed contracts with Chinese companies worth over $2.3 billion. Alarmingly, over the past decade, the total value of university contracts involving the Chinese Communist Party was estimated to be 2.5 times higher than publicly disclosed figures. These financial ties have increased China’s influence over American universities, pressuring them to deepen their collaborations with Chinese entities.
Technology Theft, A Deeper Threat to Human Rights
The harm caused by the infiltration of red capital goes far beyond mere technology leakage. China has gone a step further by suppressing free speech within the United States and using American universities to train certain controversial individuals.
The U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party has previously warned that after 2020, Harvard University provided public health-related training to officials from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. Furthermore, the Department of Homeland Security stated that Harvard’s cooperation with the Corps “continued at least through 2024.”
After completing their training, these individuals were deployed to construction and control operations in Xinjiang, enabling the Chinese Communist Party to more comprehensively manage and monitor every aspect of the Uyghur people's lives in the region.
In addition, bipartisan members of the U.S. Congress have expressed concern over student groups linked to Beijing engaging in surveillance activities on American campuses. In April 2024, a Harvard student who interrupted a speech by Chinese Ambassador to the U.S., Xie Feng, was forcibly removed from the event—not by security personnel or university staff, but by a Chinese exchange student. During the incident, Harvard officials not only failed to intervene, but also appeared to condone the use of force as the protester was physically dragged out of the venue.
Charles Lieber, the former Harvard professor who was convicted in April 2023 for concealing his involvement in China’s “Thousand Talents Plan” and sentenced to a fine and two years of supervised release, has now, as of April 28 this year, officially joined Tsinghua University’s Shenzhen International Graduate School as a full-time faculty member. He has also been appointed as a Chair Professor at Tsinghua University.
In reality, China’s infiltration of U.S. higher education and research institutions is by no means limited to Harvard University. It is undoubtedly part of a broader, systematic effort. The recent clash between President Trump and Harvard has, by coincidence, brought many of these facts to light and into public awareness. While citizens may question President Trump’s actions and directives—and seek more appropriate or measured responses—they must not overlook or underestimate the ongoing infiltration and theft being carried out by China. Vigilance and awareness are essential.
On one hand, they exploit America’s academic and speech freedoms to stir up divisions within U.S. universities, encouraging hostility among different groups. On the other hand, they funnel critical U.S. technologies and knowledge back to China to bolster their own industries. As red capital becomes increasingly important to American universities, our ability to resist China’s influence weakens. Only when the public fully understands the extent of China’s infiltration and theft—and is willing to take action to defend against it—can we hope to safeguard our academic and scientific research institutions, and the prosperity that is built upon them.
