Jennifer Richmond writes for the Washington Free Beacon about a disturbing development in American higher education.
President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement in August that he’ll allow 600,000 Chinese students to attend U.S. universities—a major reversal in policy—is the latest example of how China’s influence operation in American higher education is shifting and adapting rather than receding. The controversial Confucius Institutes, Chinese government beachheads on American college and university campuses, may have largely shut down under U.S. government pressure, but the partnerships have quietly reemerged with new names and the same goals.
Asked about the Chinese student visas last month, Trump defended his reversal—allowing 600,000 Chinese students would more than double the population of Chinese students now studying in the United States—as a smart “business” move. …
… Trump’s vigorous defense of Chinese students comes despite his administration’s declared intention earlier this summer to “aggressively revoke” the visas of Chinese students amid concerns about Chinese influence and Chinese students ultimately using their American schooling against the United States. Indeed, the president’s newfound business calculus may come with a heavy cost.
At their height, there were as many as 118 Confucius Institutes at American colleges and universities. The institutes’ primary role was to sponsor—and often fund—Chinese language and cultural courses on U.S. campuses. But when the U.S. government targeted the institutes in 2021 based on concerns they might act as espionage incubators, their doors were quietly closed across the country.
Then, in May of 2025, after the White House changed hands, further steps were taken when the House passed the DHS Restrictions on Confucius Institutes Act. But U.S. education remains far from immune to Chinese influence, and now the Chinese student population on American campuses is expected to double.
Even with the most well-endowed and elite American universities, Chinese money talks. Many universities have satellite campuses in China—a means to tap wealthy Chinese families for tuition income—including Duke, Johns Hopkins, New York University, the University of Michigan, and many others.
