Bloomberg: US should encourage more students to study in China

The US should revitalize efforts to send more students to China so as to enhance the US' capacity to both compete and collaborate with China, a Bloomberg editorial wrote that on January 31.

Ten years ago, nearly 15,000 US students studied in China. Then this figure dropped to 211 during 2021 to 2022. According to the article, one factor is the travel restrictions during the pandemic. Another factor is the friction between China and the US, causing some US colleges to close or transfer their study programs based in China.

Concurrently, the friction led to the closure of most Confucius Institutes inside US colleges. For Americans, these factors reduced the chances of learning Chinese culture, history, and Mandarin. On a larger scale, it is not conducive to bilateral people-to-people exchanges.

The US State Department has set a goal of recruiting experts proficient in Chinese language and history, diplomats, military strategists, economists, technologists and political theorists, which mostly depends on an array of educational exchanges.

The article suggested that the Biden administration look for ways to motivate US colleges to reopen their academic centers based in China, and the US should make clear that any hostile action against students or instructors will result in a forceful response, such as curbing tourist visas, expelling researchers or canceling scientific cooperation.