China Briefing | In the US, paranoid officials see Chinese spies around every corner

An increasingly hawkish America has been closing its doors recently to Chinese investors, students and academics

But such disengagement reeks of paranoia that could worsen already strained ties between the world’s two largest economies

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FILE -In this Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011, file photo, Chinese and U.S. flags are displayed on Constitution Avenue in Washington, ahead of the arrival of China's President Hu Jintao for a state visit hosted by President Barack Obama. On Thursday, June, 8, 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the world has reaped huge benefits from the relationship between the two counties. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

Published: 9:30am, 27 Apr 2019Updated: 9:30am, 27 Apr 2019

Back in the early 1980s, when China started to open its doors to investors, students, and academics from Western countries, the decision triggered a considerable amount of paranoia and anguish among the country’s communist elites about bourgeois influence, or even worse, penetration by foreign agents.

Those students and academics could only stay at designated dormitory buildings and dine at specific canteens under the watchful eyes of their Chinese minders, to prevent them from socialising with Chinese teaching staff or students except in classes. Visiting businessmen or scholars could only stay at hotels designated for foreigners, where doormen frequently checked the IDs of any Chinese intending to enter without an invite.

Some of the first Chinese students to travel to the US for university study. Photo: Handout

Fortunately, those paranoid years were blissfully short and most of these restrictive policies have long been lifted. More importantly, many of those students, scholars and businessmen have gone on to become cheerleaders of China’s progress and integration into the world.

Which makes it truly extraordinary and depressing to see the United States, the country which Chinese liberals worship for its freedom and inclusivity, closing its doors to Chinese investors, students, and academics more than 30 years later.

US visa restrictions on Chinese scientists make no sense

To a certain degree, the paranoia displayed by some overzealous American politicians of today is comparable to that of the diehard Chinese leftists in those bygone years, who assumed every overseas student or scholar was a potential spy at the beck and call of their respective governments.