Good Morning!

The following is a letter that I wrote to the Wall Street Journal in response to an “Opinion Article” that appeared in the Journal August 19th. I don’t know if they will print it, but I decided to post it here.

Yesterday, it was reported that President Trump has indicated to Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, and the leader of China, that he will allow China to have 600,000 students at American colleges and universities as part of his tariff discussions.

The interesting point is that China only has approximately 277,000 students currently studying in the United States. That would double the current number. I doubt that the 600,000 number is even reasonable or necessary, as they have never had more than approximately 300,000.

August 23, 2025

To: The Wall Street Journal

Your recent Opinion Piece, “Send Harvard’s Chinese Students Home” by Mike Gallagher, a Journal Contributor, who is also head of defense for Palantir Technologies, and a former Congressman, demonstrates the short sightedness of today’s politicians, and this current administration’s isolationist policy.

His theme, “ that we should send all Chinese International Students home, because it makes no sense for the U.S. to be educating the scientific leadership of a future adversary” is shallow thinking, and not in considering the fact that we live in a period of “Global Economics.”

He also states that, “blindly embracing academic cooperation with a geopolitical rival is absurd.” He believes that we should “refuse to issue student visas to Chinese Party Members and their children.”

International students bring a wide range of benefits to American colleges and universities, directly and indirectly, as well as to our society in general. They bring a cross-cultural learning experience, as well as an exchange of new international ideas to our society.

They also contribute to our economy in a positive manner. They provide long-term value to our economy, by augmenting the shortages in STEM, healthcare and research. As a result, they build international research partnerships.

We should not forget that many of these students will become leaders in their home country, and bridge the gap between a western democracy, and their form of government.

By educating International students, from all countries, we are fostering goodwill, and long term positive relations with their countries. This will also enhance our influence in trade and diplomacy, and improve our image abroad.

Whether we want to admit it, we have been living in a “global society” for a number of years. The more that we can understand the cultural differences between our countries, the fewer world conflicts there will be.

There are an estimated 1 million plus international students in the United States colleges and universities. The largest contingent is from India, with over 331,000, and China follows with over 277,000. These two countries make up over 60% of the total international students. It is also estimated that over 467,000 international students are graduate students, majoring in engineering, math and computer science.

Harvard has approximately 7,000 international students, from 140 countries, out of a total enrollment of 30,000 plus full-time and part time students. There is no breakdown as to how many are from China, but demographics state that 9.23% are Asian. That would amount to approximately 2,700 students of Asian ethnicity.

I assume that Mr. Gallagher would like to send all 277,000 Chinese students home.

It should be noted that Russia, another adversary, only has approximately 4,800 students studying in the United States. However, on a world - wide basis, Russia has approximately 900,000 international students studying in Russia, while China has approximately 255,000 international students studying in China.

By the same token, the United States has only a little over 14,000 students studying abroad.

It is time that we get our “heads out of the sand,” and realize that we are not an island onto ourselves.

If one looks at international trade, we import more than we export to China, Russia, and India.

In 2024, we exported approximately $143 billion in goods and services to China and imported over $438 billion. As to India, we exported over $41 billion but imported $87 billion. As to Russia, we exported approximately $528 million and imported $3 billion.

This imbalance in trade is not unusual in a “Global Economy.” Nations produce goods and services based upon their expertise, availability and cost. As a result, no one can produce 100% of the goods and services required by their population.

That is the nature of a “Global Economy.”

The more that we understand what a Global Economy is, and the cultural differences between countries, the fewer international conflicts there will be. Educating international students provides that mechanism.

Jess Sweely

Madison, VA.