Harvard ban: US wary of pro-China voice, tech access via academia
Harvard has been a home ground for Chinese elite. From Xi Jinping’s daughter, Xi Mingze, to several children of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders, many have attended Harvard over the past two decades. The influx of Chinese nationals has been always high as they made up a fifth of Harvard’s foreign student intake in 2024 alone. But US president Donald J Trump now finds this growing fondness for the American university among Chinese a threat to national security. There have been incidents of emergence of pro-China voice in the campus and it seemed the academia is being used to access sensitive military-grade US tech. Moreover, the Chinese Americans, be it students or scholars, seems to freely indulge in espionage activities for their motherland.
Therefore, the Trump administration has called for a ban on Harvard University for “improper” arrangements with China. As per the ban University’s ability to enroll international students has been revoked. Trump administration has also asked the foreign students, mostly from China, to get transferred to other schools or loose their legal status. Moreover, the US authorities are mulling to expand the ban to other American universities as well. The ban has understandably irked China and it is crying foul because as per it the rights of Chinese students and scholars are violated. Chinese foreign ministry has responded to the ban claiming that these ties were mutually beneficial for both Chinese students and US Universities but the US wants to politicize the educational cooperation.
Even in the past few Republican lawmakers had raised concern of China exploiting American educational institutions like Harvard to get access to US technology, deceive local security laws, and create a favorable pitch for Beijing within the United States. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ran an immigration crackdown on foreign student across the country and visas of many students from the Harvard University was revoked.The DHS crackdown on international students was also to restrain Chinese students from indulging in espionage activities. US authorities have been keeping tab of campus activities in Harvard and found students participating in contentious campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war and running pro-China campaigns in the campus.
Speaking on the Harvard ban DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said, “This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.” DHS also claimed that Harvard has institutional ties with Chinese institutions or individuals that were facilitating military-related research, as well as with an entity that was blacklisted by the Trump administration for alleged human rights violations. This has made US authorities concerned over China having access to sensitive and military-applicable American technology via academia.
During his first term Trump introduced a ban that effectively prevented graduates in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields from Chinese universities believed to be linked to the military from gaining visas to the US. Trump had also launched a “China Initiative” program that intended to counter China’s intelligence activities in the US that were aimed at stealing emerging technology from US research universities. But the Biden administration made the “China initiative” defunct as soon as it came to power.
But now Trump in his second term is coming down hard on pro-China organizations like Harvard University and also tightening the US immigration laws. The escalating tariff war between US and China has added fuel to fire as many Chinese Americans fear of being deported back. Harvard University has also educated former Vice Premier Liu He of People Republic of China, who helped Trump negotiate phase one trade deal during the American president’s first term.
As per reports, over 277,000 Chinese students have studied in the US during the 2023 to 2024 academic year, down from over 372,000 in the peak 2019-2020 year – a decline due to Covid-19 pandemic and increasing hostility between the two nations. But currently, there has been a very strong impact of US-China geopolitical tussle as at least a dozen high-profile academics with roots in China who were working in the US have returned to China and taken up posts at prominent universities in the country.Moreover, Chinese students cancelling their flights back to the US is all over the news as many fear their fate after announcement of Harvard ban.
For now, Harvard called the government’s action unlawful and stated it was fully committed to educating foreign students coming from 140 countries, of which Chinese nationals form the largest group. The US district judge issued a temporary restraining order freezing the Trump administration’s policy for two weeks.
