In The News

Sen. Tom Cotton suggested Chinese STEM students head home after studying in the U.S. The research shows otherwise.

The Washington Post

April 28, 2020

“Is Senator Cotton right in claiming many Chinese students are going back to China, armed with cutting-edge training in fields like AI? The available evidence — including our research — suggests he’s not,” writes CSET Research Fellow Remco Zwetsloot.

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Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) plans to “take a very hard look” at whether to give visas to Chinese students who want to study technical subjects such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing at U.S. universities.

Appearing on Fox News on Sunday, Cotton said, “it’s a scandal … that we have trained so many of the Chinese Communist Party’s brightest minds to go back to China.” Critics quickly pounced on the remarks, alleging racism and emphasizing the contributions immigrants make to U.S. innovation.

But one big question remains unanswered: Is Cotton right in claiming many Chinese students are going back to China, armed with cutting-edge training in fields like AI? The available evidence — including our research — suggests he’s not.

Read the full article in The Washington Post.