William Kirby warns Beijing’s increasing ideological grip could backfire by encouraging US hardliners and hampering educational development
White House isn’t speaking to the ‘smartest people’ when forming policy towards China, he tells seminar in Chinese capital
William Kirby, professor of China Studies at Harvard University, warned that Donald Trump’s administration was not consulting “the smartest people” about China, which may increase the risk of policy missteps.
Kirby was speaking at a seminar in Beijing on Friday, where he also said that education would be the key to whether China could replace the US as the world’s leading power.
“When you think of the broader question here: ‘Can China lead and will China be the leading power of the 21 century?’ A central point will be education,” said Kirby, who is also chairman of the Harvard China Fund, the university’s academic venture fund for China.
“So when I worry about Chinese universities, I worry about things like this: the statue of Mao Zedong in Zhejiang University. A man who has done more to destroy education in China than any other human being.”
Kirby said statues of Mao, which were erected in many universities across China during the Cultural Revolution and are still present in some institutions, symbolised how Beijing was refusing to loosen its ideological grip over education.
Chinese students in America have also faced increasing scrutiny as part of the broader effort to contain and confront Beijing amid increasing tensions between the world’s two largest economies, including the trade war and a number of diplomatic and strategic disagreements.
In June, the US State Department shortened the length of visas issued for Chinese graduate students in fields like robotics or advanced manufacturing due to fears of espionage and intellectual property theft.
The Trump administration is also reportedly weighing whether to subject Chinese students to additional vetting before they are able to study in the US.
No students from mainland Chinese schools were admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology through its early admission programme this year, fuelling concerns that top research universities are joining the efforts.
But Kirby also said the increasing ideological rigidity in China under President Xi Jinping may have stoked up the hawkish voices in the US that are driving the Trump administration’s increasingly tough policies.
Kirby said while Harvard has not changed its policy on Chinese students, he is becoming more worried “that many people in America are overreacting” to the possible threat from China and a lack of expertise in the Trump administration, which could worsen the situation.
“This is the thing that I worry about a lot in the United States. There were a lot of people who know a lot about China who could be advising President Trump … None of the smartest people are being asked to do so.”
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