1 day ago
Last Updated:June 03, 2025, 16:49 IST
A report published by The Stanford Review accused China of running a “widespread intelligence-gathering campaign” on the university's campus.
US President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping (Image Credit: Reuters)
Chinese students are being used for state-backed espionage in the United States as calls grew in Washington to sever educational ties completely with Beijing. Concerns over student-led intelligence gathering ignited a wave of political action in Washington from a Chinese student allegedly scouting near a US military base in Michigan to claims of Beijing-backed surveillance and propaganda at top campuses like Stanford University and Duke Kunshan.
China Using Students For Spying?
A report published by The Stanford Review accused China of running a “widespread intelligence-gathering campaign" on the university’s campus. The report was cited by Florida Senator Ashley Moody in support of a bill to bar all Chinese nationals from obtaining US student visas.
Even at Duke University, a student’s personal account of interacting with Chinese media during a visit to China prompted two US lawmakers to demand the closure of Duke Kunshan, a joint campus operated with Wuhan University.
The University of Michigan is also facing pressure after reports of suspicious activity by Chinese students near a military site, recently ended its partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Visas Of Chinese Students Revoked
The US State Department announced it would begin “aggressively" revoking visas of Chinese students found to have affiliations with China’s Communist Party or those pursuing studies in “critical fields," citing national security threats.
Meanwhile, former intelligence officials warned that equating Chinese students with espionage agents is both legally problematic and counterproductive. Dennis Wilder, a former CIA analyst and now a senior fellow at Georgetown University, said, “There’s a very real fear among Chinese students that they are being monitored by peers on behalf of the Chinese embassy. But that doesn’t mean those students are spies."
Jeremy Daum of Yale Law School said, as per South China Morning Post, “US universities attract top global talent, and many Chinese students stay on to contribute meaningfully to American science and innovation."
In a public letter responding to the Stanford report, former Trump administration officials and Stanford researchers warned against using terms like “espionage" too loosely while universities in states like Florida began cutting decades-old partnerships with Chinese institutions.
When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?"
When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?"
Beijing, China
First Published:News world From Classrooms To Classified? US Concerned Over China Using Students For Espionage
