Springfield Standard

Senator Eric Schmitt has introduced The Protecting Higher Education from the Chinese Communist Party Act, which aims to ban members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and their relatives from receiving student visas to American universities.

“The Chinese Communist Party remains our most significant adversary, both militarily and economically. It makes no sense for American universities to continue educating the children and other family members of CCP officials. These more than 100,000 admission slots should go to American students. If you are associated with a foreign organization that is actively working to undermine the United States, you should certainly not have the continued privilege of being educated on our college campuses. The Protecting Higher Education from the Chinese Communist Party Act fortunately puts an end to these special privileges,” said Senator Eric Schmitt.

For nearly two decades, the CCP has threatened national security by using tools such as grants, sister school partnerships, “Confucius Classrooms,” and other state-sponsored programming to compromise the integrity of America’s K-12 educational system.

The influence of the CCP within the United States has been growing. Earlier this month, federal charges were brought against Linda Sun for allegedly working as a foreign agent secretly advancing Chinese interests in New York State. Sun had worked in New York government for almost 15 years beforehand. Meanwhile, China has operated several ‘overseas police stations’ in Manhattan and elsewhere around the world. According to reporting from National Review, China's police station in Manhattan was closed last year in January.

Recently, China ended its decades-long foreign adoption program abruptly, leaving hundreds of American families currently going through the adoption process searching for answers.

Senator Schmitt has been active in combating Chinese espionage on American soil. According to U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, 105,000 visas were issued to Chinese students in 2023. Currently, there are 292,000 Chinese students studying at American colleges and universities. These visas often go to elite schools such as Washington University in St. Louis where about one-third of the student body consists of foreign nationals and roughly 10% are from mainland China.

Missouri could benefit by protecting its universities' research from theft by CCP agents and safeguarding free speech for non-CCP Chinese students on Missouri's college campuses who are often monitored by the CCP.

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