Baala Shakya, Staff Photographer

On March 14, House Republicans introduced the Stop Chinese Communist Prying by Vindicating Intellectual Safeguards in Academia Act, which would stop the issuance of student visas to Chinese students. 

The bill cites national security concerns, claiming that those on student visas in the past have spied on the U.S. on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese government forces its citizens to “engage in intelligence gathering and espionage,” requiring “such drastic measures,” wrote Senator Ashley Moody of Florida, who is expected to introduce companion legislation in the Senate.

The News spoke with four students from China, three of whom requested anonymity in fear of retaliation. While they don’t expect the bill to pass, students agreed that it’s a sign of increasing antagonism in U.S.-China relations.

“If the bill actually gets passed, I will have to go to a different country for grad school and probably won’t come back to the U.S. for work in the long term,” Joyce Liao ’25 said. “I think the bill is too extreme to be passed, but I am a little worried about its impact regardless of being passed or not.”

Students mostly dismissed the bill’s national security concerns as an excuse for the government’s competitive stance against China, calling the reasoning “hostile” and adding that “there are a lot of stereotypes that go into it.”

“Maybe there were suspicions at some point, but it seems to me that it’s an excuse,” one student said. “I think that’s a very convenient rhetoric that’s very on brand for the Trump administration, especially given what’s happening now to foreign nationals at customs who are being told the same reason, national security concerns, for not being let into the country or getting deported to their home country.”

Multiple students said the widespread sentiment among the Chinese community is that the bill won’t pass.

One student cited the economic incentives of keeping Chinese international students.

“The vast majority of people pay full tuition. It brings a lot of value to universities and the economy in general, so to fully ban everyone regardless of their political background would be a lot,” he said. “Obviously, people are shocked and uneasy and uncertain, but I don’t think people fully treat it as something that’s going to happen.”

Another student added that while the bill might not pass today, something like it could pass in the future, considering the growing antagonism between the U.S. and China. 

“What’s happening in America now is unimaginable to all of us 10 years before,” he said. “So what happens 10 years in the future, honestly, we don’t really know. So I think it’s a possibility. I guess with the current political climate, you just have to imagine the worst situation possible because anything is possible now.”

Another student said this bill might have opened up paths for less sweeping legislations that would add visa restrictions to Chinese students, especially those studying STEM, considered a “sensitive” discipline.

He said opportunities that could be reduced include Optional Practical Training, which allows STEM scholars to apply for a 24-month extension after graduation to seek employment; Curricular Practical Training, used for summer internships; and even on-campus work.

While he had hoped to pursue a doctorate in chemical biology in the U.S., the student said he now fears that this bill or a similar policy might jeopardize his plans. Although he would still prefer to complete a doctorate in the U.S., “in what is widely considered to be the hub of scientific innovation and free rights,” he is now considering graduate programs in England or Singapore. 

“This, on top of our academic stress, is just another layer of anxiety that I’ve personally never had to deal with before,” one student said.

Multiple students saw this bill as a sign of the U.S. government’s growing hostility towards China.

Even before President Donald Trump’s second term, one student said, there were concerns among Chinese students about how the U.S. government and U.S. colleges would treat them. 

“There’s always been a growing concern, but this administration has definitely sped up the process,” he said.

Another student noted that Trump, during his recent presidential campaign, seemed more friendly towards international scholars, even proposing to award green cards to U.S. college graduates.

However, he said, after Trump took office, the government’s attitude towards international students –– and foreign nations in general –– appears more hostile than ever. 

“We’ve seen so much about the tariffs on Canada and Mexico and how they’re dealing with Israel and Palestine and everything like that,” he said. “I think it’s just telling that America’s foreign policy position is not to build allyship with people but to really try to separate themselves above everyone.”

China is the most represented international country in Yale College.