Is the United States arrogant to claim that it prefers Indian STEM students over Chinese nationals?

A senior US official has sent shivers through Chinese students and their families by suggesting that their studies at US universities will be limited to the humanities due to geopolitics.

Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said Monday that his country needs to recruit more international students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, but not from China.

Instead, Washington is focusing on attracting students from India, an increasingly important U.S. security partner, he said at an event organized by the Council on Foreign Relations.

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He noted that U.S. universities already restrict Chinese students’ access to sensitive technologies due to security concerns.

The United States should also admit more students from China, Campbell said, but to study the humanities, not the sciences. “I would like to see more Chinese students come… to study the humanities and social sciences, not particle physics.”

While the number of students from China has declined for a third straight year amid COVID-19 restrictions and strained bilateral relations, the group still makes up the largest international cohort at U.S. universities.

According to the Open Doors report published by the State Department and the Institute of International Education, 289,500 Chinese students attended schools from China in the 2022-2023 academic year, up from more than 370,000 in the 2019-2020 academic year.

Indian students make up the second largest cohort, with numbers increasing by 35% to 268,900 in 2022-23 compared to the previous year.

Although communications student Julia Zhu could potentially benefit from Washington’s favoritism towards Chinese liberal arts students, she said she found “arrogance” in Campbell’s comments.

“His speech defined the role of other countries in the international order from a position of superiority,” said Zhu, who studies at the Shanghai University of International Studies, one of China’s top foreign language universities.

“What he means is that India is already democratic and Indians want to come to America and work for America. In contrast, the Chinese should be re-educated based on American humanities,” she said.

US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell’s remarks that Chinese students should be welcome in the US to study humanities rather than STEM subjects have sparked concern in China. Photo: Kyodo alt=U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell’s claim that Chinese students should be welcome in the U.S. to study humanities rather than STEM subjects has sparked concern in China. Photo: Kyodo>

Zhu was also unconvinced that Campbell’s welcome to China’s liberal arts majors was sincere. “You can’t trust words. I want the policy to actually be implemented. If he really welcomes liberal arts majors, he can at least lower tuition.”

Mandy Wang, whose 15-year-old son is a middle school student in Beijing, said she was very worried that tensions and technological rivalry between the two countries would deepen and Chinese students planning to study in the US would become victims.

“My son dreams of studying STEM in the US because they have the best universities in the world. He is very interested in math and physics, and he is excited about revolutionary changes that will benefit the whole world,” she said.

“Science should have no boundaries and should not be influenced by any narrow political objective.”

Wang said she has already been upset by stories from friends about Chinese STEM students being subjected to more stringent screening when applying for visas or entering the US. “They shouldn’t be treated like that.”

Scientists from both countries complained about interrogations and inspections of laptops and mobile phones. At the same time, Washington and Beijing are swapping accusations, suspecting intellectual property theft and espionage.

Earlier this year, the Chinese embassy in Washington accused U.S. authorities of “unreasonable” interrogations and harassment of students arriving in the U.S. with valid travel permits. Some of them had their visas canceled and were deported, it said.

The university where Jack Li is studying telecommunications engineering is on Washington’s “list of sanctioned organizations,” so neither he nor his colleagues included the United States in their planned graduate school applications, he said.

According to an employment report released by Li University last year, less than 70 students chose to further their studies abroad, most going to the UK and Australia.

U.S. concerns about the motives of Chinese students were unnecessary, Li said. “Most of our teachers are busy making money by running their own businesses.”

He added that few of his teachers cared about their students’ academic performance, let alone encouraged them to steal intellectual property from other countries.

Gary Shuai, managing director of Beijing-based Weichen Education, which helps students study abroad, said China’s stringent screening of foreign students could be a double-edged sword for the U.S.

Shuai warned that Campbell’s comments could be a precursor to new measures aimed at restricting Chinese citizens’ access to certain academic disciplines.

“Appropriate policies or measures may be introduced to restrict Chinese students’ opportunities to study and conduct research in science and engineering fields. These may include stricter visa review and restrictions on research projects,” he said.

According to Shuai, some younger students may consider switching to social sciences or business studies as a result of U.S. officials’ comments, while others may apply to universities in other countries.

“Chinese students have made great contributions to scientific research in the US. These restrictions will not only impact individual Chinese students, but may also lead to a brain drain and a decline in innovation capacity in the U.S. research and academic community.”

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative daily covering China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP articles, visit the SCMP app or the SCMP Facebook page and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.