Some universities in Europe and the US have recently raised admission standards for mainland Chinese students. The measure is aimed at preventing mainland China from stealing advanced technology or intellectual property through students, and from interfering with academic freedom with its sharp power. Consequently, Taiwanese students should expect increasing difficulty of pursuing further studies in Europe or the US with a mainland Chinese diploma.
Example 1: Stanford University issued a list of nations for admission interviews for 2018-2019. Among the 50-plus countries and regions listed were Taiwan and Hong Kong, but not mainland China.
Example 2: Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced the results of Early Decision (ED) and Early Action (EA) on December 16, 2018. Among the 9,600 applicants worldwide, a total of 707 people secured their offer, which surprisingly did not include any graduates from mainland China.
Example 3: From September 2020, the US canceled visas for more than 1,000 mainland Chinese students and researchers within 3 months due to national security concerns. Most of those affected were graduates of the "seven national defense schools" (seven universities directly under mainland China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, including Beihang University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin Engineering University, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications).
Example 4: At the end of 2023, the Federal Court of Canada supported the decision by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to reject visa applications from a mainland Chinese graduate of Beihang University on the grounds of "potential engagement in espionage activities that could harm Canadian interests," even though the student had been admitted to the Ph.D. Program of the Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering department at the University of Waterloo.
Example 5: In January 2024, the Canadian government stopped funding Canadian researchers involved with mainland China, Iran, and Russia, citing national security concerns. The research areas affected include artificial intelligence, quantum science, robotics, biotechnology, advanced weaponry, space and satellite technology, and human-machine integration. To protect advanced technology, the Canadian government announced a list of 103 universities (85 from China, 12 from Iran, and 6 from Russia) it believed had connections to entities that could potentially jeopardize national defense security. It also stated that Canadian researchers will no longer be eligible to receive federal funding for collaborative research with the aforementioned universities.