China's Student-Spies

President Trump Aides Pushed to Ban Chinese Students From the U.S.

By DAVID MEYER

President Trump’s political advisor, Stephen Miller, tried to get the president to scrap visas for Chinese who want to study in the U.S. 

A couple months back, President Donald Trump was reported to have told a group of executives that “almost every Chinese student that comes over to this country is a spy.” 

Now, a new report suggests President Trump’s team almost convinced him to stop all Chinese from studying in the U.S.
According to a Tuesday piece in the Financial Times, President Trump’s political advisor, Stephen Miller, earlier this year tried to get the president and other top officials to scrap visas for Chinese who want to study in the U.S. 

Miller said the idea would not only combat Chinese spying, but would also cause trouble for pro-China universities where criticism of President Trump is rife.

However, Terry Branstad, the U.S. ambassador to China, countered by pointing out that such a move would harm smaller colleges, and U.S. embassy officials in China noted that spending by Chinese students contributes to the service-sector trade surpluses that most U.S. states are running with China.
The FT reported that, while President Trump rebuffed Miller’s entreaties, officials such as White House trade advisor Peter Navarro are still calling for tougher action on Chinese students.
Chinese economic espionage provides one of the key themes of President Trump administration’s anti-China stance. 

Earlier this year, the State Department cut visa periods from five years to one for Chinese grad students working in sensitive fields, after FBI Director Christopher Wray warned of a “whole of society” spying threat.