The Trump administration's decision to revoke visas for some Chinese students is a self-defeating policy and has disrupted plans for studies and future careers, agreed U.S. international students, university faculty and global experts in interviews with CGTN on Wednesday.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that the Trump administration will "aggressively" revoke the visas of Chinese students, and that criteria will also be revised to "enhance scrutiny" of future visa applicants from China and China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Liu Xinyi, a Chinese student at Harvard University, said she and many like her are now reformulating their academic trajectories in the wake of the announcement.
"Questions about the visas, and academic standing, and even personal safety have become far more urgent. And for the students here, I know some of my friends are also considering transfer to other universities or contacting the labs in Hong Kong. So we're also seeking some backup plans. And along with this disruption of the studies, and we are now just worrying about the future career, and there's a lot of plans being disrupted, like maybe it's not able (possible) to work in the United States anymore as international students," said Liu.
According to experts, the Trump administration's move sends a message to prospective students all over the world who may consider studying in the U.S. that their right to continue studying in the country may be revoked at any time without cause.
"Most of the international students in the United States are graduate students. And some of them may spend 8 to 10 years doing a PhD. They may uproot their whole families to go to the United States, and they may put eight years of their life into research that's funded and then be told, 'Oh, you must leave. You must take your family. And also your research belongs to us, because it's funded by the government. So you can't even have that.' So there is a bit of anxiety among people who are considering studying in the U.S. They're looking other places, not just Hong Kong, but Europe as well," said Mallie Prytherch, the Assistant to the Director at the Center for Contemporary China and the World at the University of Hong Kong.
Prytherch said that smaller universities in the U.S. may not be able to survive financially if the visa-revoking policy targeting Chinese students is carried through.
"It's going to affect small universities more than it will affect large ones like Harvard. Harvard University has a large endowment, and they've been able to use that to push back against the demands of the Trump administration. But a lot of smaller colleges, especially smaller liberal arts universities, depend very heavily on foreign student tuition for their funding. And if they couldn't enroll foreign students or specifically Chinese students even, many of them may have to close. So this really restricts the power of the educational lobby and the power of educational institutions in the United States," said Prytherch.
Klaus Larres, Richard M Krasno Distinguished Professor of History and International Affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the policy ultimately harms U.S. interests, despite the Trump administration's "America first" framing.
"It is clearly a self-defeating policy. It robs the United States of very good talent from all over the world, including China, but also from Europe, from many other countries and continents. And it is really very regrettable. It will have serious consequences for American science and academia in the long run," said Larres.
US decision to revoke Chinese students' visas sparks sharp criticism from students, professors
The Israeli government is set to prohibit 37 international aid organizations from operating in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank effective Jan 1, 2026, after authorities stated the groups failed to comply with stricter registration requirements, according to an Israeli media report on Tuesday.
The report from The Times of Israel cited the statement from Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, saying that the new regulations are based on security concerns aimed at removing non-government organizations' staff allegedly linked to so-called "terrorist organizations."
The report came after the Israeli government announced the same day that it would suspend the activities of several international aid organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, in the Gaza Strip starting January 1, 2026, citing the organizations' failure to submit information on their Palestinian staff as required.
Last year, Israel rolled out new regulations on registration requiring international aid groups to provide detailed information of their staff's names, funding sources, and operation status.
On Wednesday, Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories stated that the registration mandates were necessary to prevent humanitarian supplies from being exploited by Hamas.
In an online interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Wednesday, Bushra Khalidi, policy lead at Oxfam, a global organization that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice, said the impact of the ban will be "devastating."
"It is devastating. We've seen the numbers from the IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) a few weeks ago. We saw them in the summer. There's been a slight improvement, but that's not good enough for the time of a ceasefire. And six months after the famine was declared, we should have seen much more improvement in Gaza," said Khalidi.
"It's winter here in Palestine. It was raining. It rained a record (amount) of rain per millimeter yesterday in Palestine since 1992. So, the impact is devastating. But the fact that shelter materials, for example, cannot enter. For families, this will mean slower repairs. It will mean fewer supplies. It will mean a longer wait for basic services. It will directly affect the access to clean water, to sanitation, to shelter materials, to public health interventions. Aid that should be moving predictably will remain delayed, it will remain restricted and it will remain stranded," she added.
She also emphasized that the operating environment became nearly impossible for organizations to navigate long before the new ban was announced.
"We have been obstructed and blocked from operating freely and unobstructedly for the last two years by Israel. Israel has killed a record number of humanitarian workers in the last two years. It has bombed our premises, it has bombed our convoys, it has blocked our items. It has driven famine like conditions in Gaza because of blocking humanitarian access. So, I think it's really important to set that scene, is that what is happening now is nothing new. It only continues within the kind of campaign that Israel has orchestrated to drive basically the population of Gazans' survival. So, we are, we have not been able to enter any materials in since March, in fact, us and many other organizations. And of course that has severely restricted our ability to scale up our operations," said Khalidi.
Hadja Lahbib, European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, said on Wednesday that Israel's move is no different from cutting off lifesaving supplies for the local population, adding that the European Union has made clear that all obstacles to humanitarian access must be lifted.
Israel bans operations of 37 int'l aid groups in Gaza Strip, West Bank
