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China Believes it’s Destiny is to Rule

Claims of a period of “recovery of lost glory” is a central narrative emanating from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) today.  President Xi Jinping and the CCP senior leadership recount the last dynastic period under the reign of Kangxi as the norm against which it measures its military, political, and economic strength today. China’s leaders take political cover under the red banner of returning to China what is rightfully owed to it by the West. President Xi employs this narrative to defend his country’s theft of foreign intellectual property, territorial incursions on neighboring countries, and even uses it to justify espionage operations inside the United States. 

Over the last decade the Obama Administration did little to discourage or punish China for illicitly acquiring and diverting critical and emerging American technologies. Times have changed in 2020. In response to Xi’s recent egregious behavior President Trump called the Chinese leader’s bluff on May 29, 2020, just days before the 31st anniversary of the massacre at Tiananmen Square. He issued a presidential proclamation suspending entry of a targeted group of nonimmigrant students and researchers from China into the United States.

A presidential proclamation is a set of written instructions from the President aimed at those outside of the US Government. It is similar to the purview of an Executive Order which governs presidential directives on internal Executive Branch activity. The recent “Suspension of Entry” proclamation states that China is using unrestricted entry into the country to engage in a “wide-ranging and heavily resourced campaign to acquire sensitive United States technologies and intellectual property” to modernize its military and it is a long-term threat to the safety and security of the American people. 

As of June 1, 2020, entry into the US by Chinese who receive funding, are employed by, or conduct research at, or on behalf of, an entity that implements or supports the PRC’s “military-civil fusion strategy” is suspended. The President’s goal is to stop China’s acquiring and diverting critical and emerging technologies to the communist giant which it then incorporates into its advanced military capabilities and plans. As expected after the announcement, Zhao Lijian who is spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, blasted the order saying China’s students have “lawful rights and interests” in receiving an American education and technology.

The presidential proclamation also instructs Secretary of State Pompeo to determine if Chinese nationals already on US soil under F or J visas present a threat and should have their visas suspended. The document itself is clear and doesn’t impact Chinese students in fields that lack a military application. The practicality of defining what is a dual-use technology is less well-delineated. While a positive step toward securing critical and emerging US military technologies and American commercial intellectual property, more needs to be done to stop the infiltration of Chinese spies in the United States.  

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In one case, Ye Yanqing was placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted List earlier this year after studying at Boston University’s Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering for about two years. She served as a Lieutenant in the PLA who had studied openly at a top Chinese military academy before coming to the US. While at Boston University she used WeChat to collaborate with, and report to, her Chinese superiors regularly on her research concerning a risk assessment model designed to decipher data for military applications. Her case is only one among many the FBI are pursuing. There also is growing concern in Washington that a number of American STEM professors have been recruited by China into its “Thousands Talents” program and are being paid to provide information to China. 

After the US recognized the People’s Republic of China, Washington issued visas to about 12,000 Chinese students each year. Twenty years later that jumped to 98,235 studying on American university campuses across the country. By 2019 the number more than trebled to over 369,500, making the US the top destination for Chinese studying abroad. In a typical year only 12,000 American students study in Chinese universities. Most are in non-STEM programs, with many there only to study the language. 

There is a different narrative in American academia where a full 1/3 of the total international body of students in American universities comes from communist China, with most paying the full price to attend school. Universities eager to accept the lucrative “cash cow” STEM students from China often overlook the national security implications. FBI agents visiting Ivy League school administrators, including those at Harvard University, find the schools typically dismiss the threat as a non-issue or have no plan in place to monitor or restrict access to sensitive technologies and research. It could be naivete if not for the fact that Chinese students added over $13 billion to the US economy during the 2017-18 school year.

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government.  Each Saturday, she presents key updates on U.S. foreign policy from the State Department.

Illustration: Temple of Heaven in Beijing (Pixabay)