{"id":2605013,"date":"2026-05-20T11:56:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T15:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/if-beating-china-at-ai-is-paramount-why-are-we-training-their-students-at-our-universities\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T11:58:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T15:58:25","slug":"if-beating-china-at-ai-is-paramount-why-are-we-training-their-students-at-our-universities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/if-beating-china-at-ai-is-paramount-why-are-we-training-their-students-at-our-universities\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Train China&#8217;s Students If We Want To Beat Them At AI?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fif-beating-china-at-ai-is-paramount-why-are-we-training-their-students-at-our-universities%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2605013&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article argues that President Trump\u2019s claim that the United States must \u201cwhatever it takes\u201d to win the AI race against China clashes with his support for admitting large numbers of Chinese students to American universities. It notes that trump points to AI and related investment-such as companies building their own power facilities-as proof the U.S. is beating China, but says this approach is contradicted by allowing Chinese students to gain U.S. training in AI and then perhaps return to China.<\/p>\n<p>It cites reporting that increasing numbers of Chinese graduates come back home to pursue jobs and that China is working to attract them, which the article presents as helping Beijing advance in AI. The piece also argues that China\u2019s national security laws require individuals and organizations to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >support \u201cnational intelligence efforts<\/a>,\u201d implying students studying in the U.S. could be compelled to share sensitive research or face pressure from the CCP. It points to historical examples of Chinese intelligence or coercive tactics abroad and cites a U.S. Justice Department case in which a Chinese national connected to Google was convicted of stealing AI-related trade secrets for the PRC.<\/p>\n<p>the author contends that the president\u2019s pro-student-admission stance undermines his stated national-security goal of beating china in AI and characterizes it as a security risk, urging a policy reversal.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>President Trump and his administration have regularly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Americas-AI-Action-Plan.pdf?ref=bayareacurrent.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">maintained<\/a> that America winning the AI race is a \u201cnational security imperative\u201d and that it must do \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/trump-declares-us-win-global-ai-race-during-executive-order-signing-ceremony-whatever-takes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">whatever it takes<\/a>\u201d to beat Red China in the competition for AI dominance. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are beating China by a lot [in AI] because I allowed these plants to be built,\u201d Trump recently <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2026\/05\/18\/trump-interview-economic-strategy-tariffs-ai-dealmaking-china-summit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> of his efforts to help Big Tech firms power their <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/12\/05\/ai-data-centers-are-wreaking-havoc-on-local-communities-across-america\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">resource-sucking data centers<\/a> with their own plants. \u201cThese companies build their own electric units now, they don\u2019t use the grid at all. Otherwise, we wouldn\u2019t be able to compete\u2009\u2026\u2009<em>It\u2019s important that we\u00a0win<\/em>\u201d (emphasis added). <\/p>\n<p>Yet, for all the president\u2019s intent on \u201cwinning\u201d the AI race (whatever that looks like), it underscores a notable contradiction in his stated policy agenda \u2014 one that significantly undermines his position that America must do whatever it takes to beat communist China. <\/p>\n<p>At the same time Trump is casting Beijing as America\u2019s main adversary in the AI race, he\u2019s advocating for allowing hundreds of thousands of Chinese students access to American universities, which are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/business\/china-silicon-valley-sea-turtles-tech-ai-talent-46385d38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">training<\/a> the next generation on AI, computing, and other technologies his administration deems critical to U.S. national security interests. <\/p>\n<p>Just last week, the president <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/15\/theres-nothing-maga-about-500000-student-visas-for-the-ccp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reaffirmed<\/a> his <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/08\/27\/trumps-chinese-student-visa-policy-is-an-un-american-security-risk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">longstanding support<\/a> for permitting Chinese nationals to study at American colleges, telling Fox News\u2019 Sean Hannity that to revoke such a policy would be an \u201cinsult\u201d to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He further espoused concerns that \u201clower\u201d colleges would \u201cd[ie] all over the place\u201d if America cut off Chinese students from its university system. <\/p>\n<p>Putting aside the America Last nature and <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/06\/13\/trump-is-wrong-america-shouldnt-be-admitting-chinese-nationals-to-its-universities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">glaring<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/08\/27\/trumps-chinese-student-visa-policy-is-an-un-american-security-risk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">national security risks<\/a> associated with such a stance, consider how illogical it is when further contrasted with the president\u2019s insistence that America win the AI race against China.<\/p>\n<p>A growing number of Chinese graduates \u2014 including those in the AI and tech fields \u2014 are opting to return to China after acquiring their degrees. <\/p>\n<p>The Wall Street Journal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/business\/china-silicon-valley-sea-turtles-tech-ai-talent-46385d38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> earlier this month how the \u201cnumber of recent Chinese graduates returning home to seek jobs grew 12% in 2025 from the previous year, and the figure has more than doubled since 2018, according to a report by Chinese recruiting platform Zhaopin.\u201d The outlet noted that while many such individuals \u201ccontinue to build careers in the U.S.,\u201d the CCP \u201cis working to ease homecoming pains\u201d to draw them back to China. <\/p>\n<p>Circling back to the president\u2019s point, if beating Beijing in the AI race is the goal, then how does it make sense for the United States to admit swaths of Chinese students to its colleges and equip them with extensive knowledge and research about AI and related fields, only for some of those same students to then go back to China and help their native country win the AI race? Under the president\u2019s position, America is training its chief adversary\u2019s rising intellectuals to help the CCP outflank the United States in AI development.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s equally significant about this dynamic is that China\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cna.org\/quick-looks\/2023\/China-national-security-laws-implications-beyond-borders.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">national security laws<\/a> explicitly require <em>all<\/em> Chinese citizens and organizations to \u201csupport, assist, and cooperate\u201d with so-called \u201cnational intelligence efforts.\u201d They also give the Chinese government the power to demand \u201crelevant organs, organizations, and citizens provide necessary support, assistance, and cooperation.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>That means that even if Chinese students studying in America didn\u2019t want to forfeit critical information and research on AI to the CCP, there\u2019s a probability Beijing would give them little choice but to do so. The CCP has been known to have its agents <a href=\"https:\/\/2017-2021.state.gov\/chinas-coercive-tactics-abroad\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">threaten and coerce<\/a> Chinese citizens abroad into complying with the party\u2019s demands and suppress dissent \u2014 even going as far as <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/04\/01\/new-gop-legislation-would-combat-ccps-secret-police-in-the-u-s\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">targeting<\/a> their family members in China.<\/p>\n<p>To think they wouldn\u2019t use such tactics to acquire sought-after AI research for their national benefit is pure wishful thinking.<\/p>\n<p>The siphoning of American AI secrets to Beijing has already proven to be a real concern. Earlier this year, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/archives\/opa\/pr\/chinese-national-residing-california-arrested-theft-artificial-intelligence-related-trade\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Chinese national<\/a> and former Google employee who previously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewirechina.com\/2026\/02\/08\/the-moonlighter-ding-linwei-google\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">studied<\/a> at the University of Southern California was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/former-google-engineer-found-guilty-economic-espionage-and-theft-confidential-ai-technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">convicted<\/a> \u201con seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets for stealing thousands of pages of confidential information containing Google\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chinese-national-accused-of-selling-cancer-research-to-communist-nation\/\" title=\"... Accused of Selling Cancer Research to Communist Nation\">trade secrets related<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/death-from-above\/\" title=\"Death From Above\">artificial intelligence technology<\/a> for the benefit of the People\u2019s Republic of China (PRC),\u201d according to the Justice Department. <\/p>\n<p>As The Federalist\u2019s Brianna Lyman recently <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/15\/theres-nothing-maga-about-500000-student-visas-for-the-ccp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">surmised<\/a>, there is nothing \u201cMAGA\u201d about the president\u2019s stance on this issue. His continued willingness to accept hundreds of thousands of Chinese students is an America Last security risk that\u2019s undermining one of his stated policy goals. He would be wise to listen to his voters and reverse course. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump says AI victory over China is vital, boasting U.S. gains but relying on building data centers support for Big Tech<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2605016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Donald-Trump-Xi-Jinping.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[80006,80005,4501,32404,80007],"class_list":["post-2605013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-ai-competition","tag-ai-education","tag-china","tag-geopolitics","tag-machine-learning"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Donald-Trump-Xi-Jinping.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2605013"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2605018,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605013\/revisions\/2605018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2605016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2605013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2605013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2605013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}