China has long sought to tear America down from within and has used students on visa to help aid in that process. By utilizing students here on visa to relay information back to the Chinese Communist Party, they have gained a foothold in the country. President Trump has taken action to combat the Chinese threat and is currently embroiled in a trade kerfuffle with the Asian nation.
As those negotiations continue, President Trump has floated the idea of a plan to allow 600,000 Chinese student visas to be issued. In contrast, about 277,000 Chinese students currently hold visas in the country. A stark, very large increase, and it has drawn some criticism for Trump. Backers of the plan say it could be necessary to keep certain universities open, while others see it as a direct threat.
China expert and author Gordon Chang says this might be a byproduct of the bigger picture.
"It appears to be in connection with trade, and very well might be part of the trade discussions with China," he says.
It might be part of the talks as a good faith gesture by the United States. After all, Trump's goal for these talks is to ensure the two nations get along.
But on the flip side, this is not the greatest idea. China has never been secretive about their desire to breakdown the United States, and this opens more avenues to do just that.
"If there is going to be a large increase in the students...we can expect the Chinese to be filtering in security agents here," says Chang.
That would mean more bad agents, more eyes on critical U.S. infrastructure, and more opportunity to gain intelligence the Chinese might not otherwise have.
It just extends another branch for the Chinese to hang on to and puts more strain on the federal government having to keep up with these visas. They cannot track all of them or know their activities, so how will they know if they are doing something nefarious?
So, in the end, this idea is not one of the best that President Trump has had. Solely because if lets the Chinese keep their foot in the door.
"China uses every point of contact to subvert our society...so it is important for us to reduce those points of contact, not increase them," Chang says. "Therefore, we need to be reducing the number of Chinese students in our colleges and universities, not increasing them."
Chang adds that this effort to accept more Chinese students in turn removes a potential spot for an American applicant.
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