White House Considers Restricting Chinese Researchers

The Trump administration is considering restrictions on students and researchers from China over concerns that they could be sharing American technology and trade secrets with the Chinese.  They would bar Chinese citizens from engaging in research at American universities and research institutions.

The White House is discussing whether to limit the access of Chinese citizens to the United States, including restricting certain types of visas available to them and greatly expanding rules pertaining to Chinese researchers who work on projects with military or intelligence value at American companies and universities.

The exact types of projects that would be subject to restrictions are unclear, but the measures could clamp down on collaboration in advanced materials, software and other technologies....

....part of a broad set of measures the administration says are necessary to combat a growing national security threat from China...

 What schools and people will feel these impacts, besides all of us for a loss of our national conscience?

....it is not known how many people could be affected, but restrictions would probably fall most heavily on graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and employees of technology companies in the United States on temporary visas. More than one million foreign students study in the United States each year, with roughly one-third coming from China.

Throwing up barriers to protect American technology could come at a high cost, including potential discrimination and threatening the substantial profits that American universities earn from foreign students, who often pay full tuition.

We don't need to be best friends with China, but this is a confounding step in the wrong direction for no benefit.

An attempt to crack down on Chinese citizens could further chill relations between the two nations, whose closely integrated markets support the most prominent companies around the globe. Technology companies like Apple, Qualcomm, IBM and General Electric have hitched their future growth to access to the Chinese market, which the Trump administration is now threatening to curtail. 

These measures could prompt more damaging retaliation from China, which has already promised to place tariffs on at least $50 billion of American products. They also appear to be fueling anti-American sentiment within Chinese borders. China has tightened measures against possible spying, even posting public service announcements in subway trains warning citizens to watch foreigners for signs of espionage.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/30/us/politics/trump-china-researchers-espionage.html