The Trump administration has started taking aim at China's best and brightest in the United States, scrutinising researchers with ties to Beijing and restricting student visas.
"The restrictions on Chinese scholars and students are irrational and go against the very core value that makes US a great nation." The US hosted more than 360,000 students from China last year, according to a report by the Institute of International Education, more than any other country. "The actions of the US side are causing a chill in China-US educational exchanges and cooperation," Xu Yongji, deputy director of the Education Ministry's Department of International Cooperation and Exchange told a briefing on Monday in Beijing.
"Those in the US who are blocking Chinese students and scholars have another agenda in mind: They are afraid that the Chinese will master advanced technology and that China will walk to the front," the Communist Party's flagship newspaper, the People's Daily, said in a Tuesday commentary. Last June, the US State Department said it would limit the visas for Chinese students studying science and engineering.