Following the footsteps of the United States, some European universities have imposed restrictions on Chinese students and scholars studying certain engineering fields. Meanwhile, Chinese students studying humanities and social sciences in the West are facing unwelcoming situations upon returning to China. Experts analyze that while Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is lagging behind in technology and cutting ties with the West, it is actively rejecting in the humanistic realm due to political needs, leading to increasing alienation and confrontation with the Western world.
Bloomberg recently reported that Robert-Jan Smits, President of Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, revealed that the US ambassador to the Netherlands had expressed “concern” about the “overwhelming” number of Chinese students at the university and advised the school to “handle Chinese students carefully.” He stated that the university is very cautious in allowing students to access the country’s top sensitive chip technology.
Eindhoven University of Technology is located about 8 kilometers away from the global headquarters of ASML, the world’s largest advanced chip manufacturing equipment supplier, and the two have a close research collaboration.
According to Smits, the university has implemented some restrictions on Chinese students. He said, “We don’t want our crown jewels to be stolen.”
The Netherlands is currently at the center of the US-China tech war. Since 2019, the US has requested the Dutch government to stop allowing the export of Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment to China.
In April 2023, the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) warned that Dutch universities were “enticing targets” for espionage activities, with the CCP being the biggest threat. Reuters reported that Dutch universities had started to reject Chinese students who had received scholarships from the national study fund commission.
Voice of America quoted a Chinese doctoral student studying geography at the University of Vienna, supported by the China Scholarship Council (CSC), on August 7 this year, stating that restrictions mainly target engineering disciplines closely related to industry and military, particularly areas related to chips, AI, and other engineering technologies. Other STEM disciplines, especially basic disciplines with low applicability like pure mathematics, are unlikely to be affected.
Additionally, restrictions in specific engineering fields mainly focus on graduate, especially doctoral students, and visiting scholars, researchers, while undergraduate and taught master’s students are minimally affected.
Dr. Zhidong Zhong, an assistant researcher at the Taiwan Institute for National Defense and Security Research, stated to Epoch Times on August 7 this year that the special precautions European universities take against Chinese students reflect the tech war between China and Europe. He pointed out that the CCP has been using so-called international students to steal critical technology in Europe like spies, and due to China’s support for Russia in the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe has a sense of distrust towards Chinese students and scholars.
The US government has warned that China’s advanced technology industry is becoming a target for Chinese intellectual property theft and infiltration. Earlier this year, several Chinese science and engineering students who went to the US were investigated and repatriated by the US authorities.
On June 24 this year, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell stated at an event at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York that US universities are limiting Chinese students’ access to sensitive technology disciplines for security reasons.
He said, “I would like to see more Chinese students come to the US to study humanities and social sciences, rather than particle physics.”
Dr. June Teufel Dreyer, a senior expert on US-China issues and a political science professor at the University of Miami, expressed to Epoch Times at the end of June that the US’s policy direction could be seen as a “two-for-one,” protecting US technological property as well as aiding in countering CCP propaganda against the US. “If Chinese students study humanities instead of sciences, the US doesn’t have to worry as much about scientific data and technology being misused by China.”
Dr. Zhisheng Wang from the Association for Asian-Pacific Security Exchange stated to Epoch Times on August 7 that Chinese students and scholars in STEM fields have faced strict restrictions when going to the US for several years, mainly to prevent them from stealing advanced technology secrets to take back to China. Due to the US restrictions, the CCP has shifted students and scholars in relevant technologies to Europe, especially to the Netherlands, which possesses advanced laser technology, but this has led to tighter policies from European countries.
With increasing restrictions on Chinese students and scholars acquiring chip technology in the US, Beijing hopes to obtain advanced technology from European countries. At the end of last month’s 20th Central Committee Third Plenum of the CCP, it also proposed to “encourage high-level foreign universities in science and engineering to cooperate in running schools in China.”
In collaboration with the Hainan provincial government, the Chinese Ministry of Education jointly issued interim regulations for overseas higher education institutions to establish schools in the Hainan Free Trade Port on April 23, 2023, requiring disciplines to be limited to one or more of the following categories: science, engineering, agriculture, and medicine. The regulations also include requirements for the presence of CCP organization leaders in the decision-making bodies of educational institutions, the study of Chinese constitution, laws, and national conditions, the use of foreign textbooks according to authorities’ regulations, and engagement in party and group activities, among others.
On December 15, 2022, Hainan province reached an intention agreement with the University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld in Germany for the independent school project. The Hainan University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld became the first “independent school project of overseas universities” initiated within China.
In recent years, the CCP has repeatedly emphasized that schools must not use unauthorized foreign textbooks and training institutions are strictly prohibited from providing overseas educational programs.
In contrast to studying STEM subjects in Europe and the US, Chinese students studying humanities and social sciences have found the CCP government increasingly cautious or even rejecting the content they are learning.
Due to the increasingly closed academic environment in China, Chinese students and scholars obtaining a PhD in humanities in Europe face a dilemma. A Han Studies professor at the University of Cologne in Germany revealed to Voice of America, “Worried about the current political atmosphere in China, many of my Chinese doctoral students hope to delay graduation and postpone their plans to return home.”
A Chinese student pursuing a PhD in social sciences at a university in a German-speaking area expressed concerns about a trend of “academic sinicization and North Koreanization” in China. Explaining that the so-called construction of an independent knowledge system actually means distancing from Western academic discourse in humanities.
On the eve of Youth Day in 2022, Xi Jinping, the CCP leader, emphasized at Peking University the construction of world-class Chinese universities that should not “simply take foreign universities as standards and models,” emphasizing the establishment of a so-called “independent knowledge system of China.” A few days later, Peking University announced its withdrawal from international university rankings.
When confirming Peking University’s exit from international rankings, the Central People’s Broadcasting Network stated on May 8 that this move was to “build a Chinese independent knowledge system, safeguard Chinese educational sovereignty and cultural sovereignty,” and so on.
Nanjing University and Lanzhou University have also withdrawn from international university rankings.
After Xi Jinping came to power, in 2013, an internal ideological circulation termed the “Seven Don’t Speaks” spread online, setting ideological red lines in the humanities field and prohibiting the promotion of constitutional democracy, neo-liberalism, civil society, historical nihilism, press freedom, universal values, among other contents.
As experts analyze that while the CCP is passively disconnecting from the West in technological aspects, it is actively rejecting in humanistic areas, they believe that the impact on China is predominantly negative.
Zhong mentioned that the CCP is being forced to disconnect in technology but is actively rejecting in the humanities. Basic science is essentially apolitical. Based on past experiences, the CCP can profit from Western countries through legal and illegal means in technology. However, Western humanities and social viewpoints pose the biggest threat to the CCP’s authoritarian ideological system. “Different paths don’t converge for common goals, each focuses on their own objectives, and both sides are wary of each other. This reflects the phenomenon of Western countries and China increasingly disconnecting in order to mitigate risks.”
He believes that relations between the CCP and Western countries will become increasingly alienated as they continue to disconnect and mitigate risks.
Wang pointed out that the CCP needs Western cutting-edge technology, which allows them to catch up with or surpass Western achievements. However, the CCP fears humanities and social sciences as they inevitably touch on universal values such as democracy, freedom, peace, and human rights. After learning these concepts, individuals further strengthen their anti-CCP ideology and develop independent critical thinking skills, putting the CCP in a state of fear. “This represents two extremes.”
Wang suggested that the CCP’s exclusion of Western influences in the humanities aims to construct a closed discourse system to meet the CCP’s governance needs and external confrontation; however, the effectiveness of this strategy remains unclear. Yet, as they passively disconnect from technology, it will only lead to China falling behind in overall scientific research and development.