‘Exclusion law’ as prejudiced as its predecessor

A state law in Florida came into effect in July, which among other things prohibits the state’s public universities from offering anyone living in one of six countries a contract to do research. One of the countries is China.

If one of the 12 public colleges and universities covered by the law want to hire Chinese graduate students or postdoctoral students to work in their labs, they must get a waiver from the state’s top higher education body. But how that process works has not been made clear.

Had Florida Republican Governor Ron De Santis or any of the lawmakers in the state any sense of responsibility regarding Florida’s future, they would carefully read the letter of more than 280 University of Florida faculty members, who “urgently request a timely decision that allows us to recruit top international graduate students with an assistantship, irrespective of their nationality”.

At their summit on the sidelines of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in San Francisco in November, the Chinese and US leaders agreed that the two sides should treat each other with respect, maintain open lines of communication and cooperate in areas of shared interest. What the Florida governor and lawmakers are doing is the opposite, namely disrespectfully closing lines of communication and refusing to cooperate in areas of shared interest.

Florida’s law is a sad indictment of the mentality of US politicians such as DeSantis who hold administrative power and can pass legislation that nakedly discriminates against students from China and other countries that they harbor ideological prejudice toward.

The law recalls the Chinese Exclusion Act 1882, which was the first in US history to place broad restrictions on immigration. As was the case then, racism and domestic factors trumped concerns about how the move would damage relations with China.

The Florida ban was inspired by presidential proclamation 10043 issued by then president Donald Trump, which denies a visa to someone who studied at a particular university whether or not any negative information exists about the individual. The policy was introduced despite the US government already having a long-standing program to vet potential students based on concerns over the transfer of sensitive technologies. The Joe Biden administration continues to enforce the proclamation.

Those critical of such moves say that the US will lose out on a valuable talent pool and the financial and scientific contributions these students would make to the US.

But it seems that the damage such actions can do to the US’ talent inflow and the country’s research are of no concern to US lawmakers such as DeSantis.

These politicians parade such demonstrations of xenophobic chauvinism as though they are a badge of honor.

Editorial, China Daily