China, in his words · First term · № 68
Said China conducted 'illicit espionage' and suspended entry of some Chinese students
“For years, the Government of China has conducted illicit espionage to steal our industrial secrets, of which there are many. Today I will issue a proclamation to better secure our Nation's vital university research and to suspend the entry of certain foreign nationals from China who we have identified as potential security risks.”
- Said
- , Remarks on United States actions against China, White House Rose Garden
- Subject
- espionage and students
- Threat
- Military threat
- Topic
- Foreign policy
- Era
- First term
What the record showed
Proclamation 10043, signed the same day, said China used some graduate students and researchers 'to operate as non-traditional collectors of intellectual property' to modernize its military. By September 2020 the State Department said it had revoked the visas of more than 1,000 Chinese students and researchers, out of nearly 370,000 Chinese students enrolled at U.S. universities in 2018-19. Eleven months before the Rose Garden remarks, on June 29, 2019, he had said in Osaka: 'We want to have Chinese students come and use our great schools, our great universities.' On August 25, 2025 he told reporters, 'We're going to allow, it's very important, 600,000 students' from China.
Sources
- Remarks on United States Actions Against China
- Proclamation 10043—Suspension of Entry as Nonimmigrants of Certain Students and Researchers From the People's Republic of China
- US revokes visas for 1,000 Chinese students deemed security risk
- The President's News Conference in Osaka, Japan
- Trump says US will accept 600,000 Chinese students as part of trade deal