The Fulbright exchange programme was born out of hopes for peace after second world war and reflected realism about the need to avoid another cataclysm. Stopping the flow of Fulbrighters between China and the US undermines decades of effort to build understanding and cooperation, and avoid uninformed miscalculations.

The emotional scars of the opium wars and bullying by colonial powers resonate among ordinary Chinese in a way the West does not fully appreciate.