The US should keep its universities open to Chinese students and organisations – education is the best weapon in promoting democracy
- America’s founders, like Confucius before them, saw education’s anti-authoritarian benefits. Banning Chinese students would end a potent US edge in its ideological rivalry
Despite over 100 years of historic connections with China, and a near 10-year relationship with the Confucius Institute, the University of Minnesota has now suspended ties with China and Huawei. Concerned about national security and the US-China trade war, the Trump administration has given American educational institutions a choice: the Chinese organisations or US government funding.
All but six states have at least one Confucius Institute at a university. Of the more than 1 million foreign students attending US universities, 360,000 are Chinese. These students are now seen as national security threats.
White House adviser Stephen Miller proposed a ban on student visas for all Chinese nationals, but US ambassador to China Terry Branstad convinced President Donald Trump to reject the proposal. Branstad argued that a ban would not only damage American higher educational institutions but also cause diplomatic fallout.
When it comes to Confucius Institutes, White House policy formulations are ill-advised and counterproductive. The institutes operate under the Chinese Ministry of Education but the American host institutions have oversight.