Last week I wrote about Marco Rubio’s announcement that the United States would curtail the number of Chinese student studying at American universities. Since then, there has been no further information from Rubio about what he meant, but Donald Trump appears to be walking back his Secretary of State’s message. In speaking with General Secretary Xi Jinping on Thursday, Trump expressed that “The U.S. loves to have Chinese students coming to study in America,” according to the PRC Foreign Ministry’s readout of the call, and Trump then told reporters, “Chinese students are coming. No problem. No problem. It’s our honor to have them.”
Whether or not there will be any sort of policy change remains uncertain, but Rubio’s statement provoked a strong outcry in the China Studies community. More than 700 scholars (including me) signed a petition asking the State Department to pause any planned implementation of visa restrictions on Chinese students. UCLA’s Center for Chinese Studies also held an online teach-in, which featured a panel of scholars and writers speaking about the past, present, and potential future of Chinese students studying in the United States. My hope is that Trump actually meant what he said in his possibly off-the-cuff statements and that American universities will continue to welcome students and faculty from China—though I can also understand that young people in China and Hong Kong might have second thoughts about pursuing their education in this country.
Thanks for joining me this week.
Recommendations
China Stories
Anonymous, “Heavenly Peace Comes to the City of Angels”
Sarah Ellison and Cate Cadell, “Chinese propaganda surges as the U.S. defunds Radio Free Asia”
Jaycey Fortin, “Ancient Trees, Dwindling in the Wild, Thrive on Sacred Ground”
Jiang Yifan, “Hats Off: A Chinese Cap Maker Rides the MAGA Wave”
Thomas Kellogg, “Chinese Activists Are in Shock over Cuts to U.S. Human Rights Programs”
Neil Thomas, “Li Qiang’s Quiet Rise: Why China’s Premier Matters Again”
Wanderings Around the World
Nga Pham, “Vietnam ends its longstanding 2-child policy”
Laurie Gwen Shapiro, “Amelia Earhart’s Reckless Final Flights”
Standout Story
A decade ago, talking too loudly against the government in public could get you in trouble; today, standing in lines for rationed and increasingly expensive goods, you might hear people shout down those who try to defend the government. While the threat of repression has deterred a resurgence of mass protest, such public criticism speaks to the extent of popular discontent. The new low in national pride is especially clear among the youth. One Cuban academic has gone so far as to openly state on Cuban television that his university students see being born in Cuba as the greatest misfortune that could have befallen them. The social justice programs and economic modernization promised by the revolution lie in ruins, leaving the island increasingly populated by those too old, too poor, or too sick to leave, and the ghosts of a dream that has long since become a nightmare.
— Andrés Pertierra, “The Cuban Exodus”
Catching Up
Featured photo: Hong Kong, November 11, 2018.
Maura Elizabeth Cunningham 
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