This is clearly part of Trump’s negotiations with China. He accepts these 600,000 students in exchange for something. Rare earth minerals, maybe? In any case, I understand, though not approve, what Trump is doing.
China’s strategy is harder to fathom. It has adopted the strategy of El Salvador before Bukele. El Salvador would aggressively push the best and the brightest out of the country so that they’d send back money and create a semblance of an economy. This is done by desperate, failed countries with a surplus population. Everybody else tries to keep its elite instead of throwing it away like a used Kleenex.
How bad are things in China that they are so desperate to get rid of these 600,000 young people?
Clarissa's Blog 
This does not make any sense. At our R1 University, in the pre-Covid years, we used to get a lot of applicants to our grad program in a STEM field from China (~ 100-200/year). This number sharply dropped after 2020, and we now get ~ 10 applicants year. Instead of our international students being mostly from China, now they are from Africa, Middle East, Vietnam and India. Perhaps Harvard is different, but it will not be able to accommodate 600,000 students. Are these 600,000 students graduate or undergraduate and who will pay for their education? I am simply puzzled because based on what I have seen, students from China are not clamoring to come here as they once used to.
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China’s strategy is to get access to American intellectual property. Unlike students from, say India, who typically get assimilated to whatever degree they can and try to become Americans, Chinese students often go back to China after their studies. China has huge incentives for Chinese nationals to return to China. Their activities in the US range from simple learning (learn American knowledge and bring it back to China) to outright espionage.
When I was a graduate student, there was a Chinese professor in the department who used to run multi-million dollar projects from NASA etc. One fine day, he just disappears. Just up and leaves. His wife and two (American) children who are left behind have no clue what happened. When he doesn’t show up for work on Monday, the FBI comes following. It is found out that apparently China made him an offer he couldn’t refuse and overnight he relocated to China with all the deep inside knowledge of NASA’s moon program.
You know the concern over foreign students holding “anti-American” views? You know who doesn’t express anti-American views? Who doesn’t express *any* views at all? Chinese students. Why? Because they’re all under surveillance of the Chinese state. They express no views whatsoever because the party is listening, even in the US.
Chinese companies are the worst offenders when it comes to violating patent laws and stealing intellectual property. We get a lot of stuff manufactured in China but it is well known in the tech world that if a design goes to China, there is a good chance a cheap chinese clone shows up shortly after in the market.
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The students go back to China after they graduate. They don’t here nor do they seem interested in staying here. I’m not at an elite school but I’ve had quiite a few Chinese students over the years. (Most of them have been hard working, enthusiastic, and genuinely pleasant to teach.) They seem to come here for two basic reasons: 1) To improve their English. Fluency in English seems to be a major asset to success in most professional fields. 2) To understand the United States. They seem to want to understand how American live, what makes us “tick” and be willing to bring back what they see as good ideas or practises. And none of them are sending money back to China. These are children of semi-affluent people. The parents send their children money. The students are expected to study, see other parts of the country as their schedule allows, and learn English.
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Yeah, aha, people come here to leave.
Let’s be real. They are all staying and bringing every distant relative with them.
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I worked with students from Asia in the past (China, Korea), and it is a mixed bag. Some stay, some leave. This is different from students from Africa or Middle East, who are in general here to stay. I was surprised at this, because a couple of students who went back after getting their PhDs were really good and could have had a good career in the US. Of course, this my limited experience and I do not know how the overall numbers look like.
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Let’s say only 1/6 of them stays. Is that what Trump voters voted for?
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I am most definitely not in favor of purposefully bringing 600,000 students from anywhere as a part of any deal. I am just puzzled by the entire thing as I have observed a big drop in the interest of students from China in studying at least at our University. I don’t get what anyone is getting out of this.
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Why is Trump doing everything to anger his voters is the question here.
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He’s turned out to be another mitch mcconnell but with a better social media game, which his supporters still seem to be lapping up. Fucking useless.
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Thank you so much for remaining normal. Seriously, thank you. I often think I’m losing my mind. I talked to a supporter about this today. He says, “I don’t see a problem. We are getting the tariffs, that’s the important thing.”
I said, “tell me honestly, did you vote for this?”
He said, “Not specifically but I don’t see a problem as long as we get the tariffs.”
It’s like people have the memory span of a fruit fly.
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Declaring fealty to a fucking politician is maybe the most cucked thing one can do in a democracy. I want mass deportations. If Trump cannot do it, I’ll vote for someone who does, or not vote at all. It’s not my fucking job to support a politician career. GOP can fuck off for all I care.
i never gave anyone my unconditional support when I was on the left and I don’t plan to change now that I’m on the right. Dems got punished in 2024 for going too far with their DEI retardation, right? That’s a healthy corrective mechanism in a democracy, isn’t it? Why should the GOP be immune to any consequences of betraying their base time and again?
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I agree completely. Personality cults are low IQ. Everybody is fallible. Worshipping a politician is pathetic.
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Trump is angering his voters because he’s a clinical narcissist who conned them. Enjoy!
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I think that people who voted for Kamala Harris should stay very quiet in conversations about clinical narcissists.
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We need 599999 more.
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High trust societies are defenseless against low-trust societies.
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