“In China, the government can control education, high schools, colleges, universities. We thought that the USA could be different," one student said.
Chinese students say they’re questioning their decision to study in the U.S. after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the federal government will attempt to “aggressively” revoke their visas.
Rubio said Wednesday that Chinese students “with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields” would be targeted.
Chinese students who spoke to NBC News on Thursday said that they came to the U.S. for freedoms they felt they did not have back in China but that now the Trump administration is starting to resemble the strict regime they left behind.
Having a visa revoked is very different from being thrown into a jail or executed.
They have every right to say that about the US, though, and I am happy they can voice thier opinion. Unlike in China, where the government will happily throw you and your family behind bars for saying something even approaching a bad opinion of government action.
Edit - aww I think I irritated the tankies
Have you not been watching the news? ICE has been detaining people left and right for months at a time, no charges whatsoever.
Sadly only left. None from there right. If they started detaining their own things might actually change.
I agree it’s terrible. Still very far from China.
It could never happen to me, only bad people! –Hardeehar
Let say, EU is at 90/100 in terms of freedom
PRC is at 5/100
North Kora is at 0/100
Where do you think the USA is?
If you ask me in 2015, probably 70/100
After 2017-2021 it’s at 50/100
Now its something like 10/100
Saying the “USA is far from becoming China” feel like saying “China is far from becoming North Korea”.
Like, imagine saying to Chinese dissidents “Hey at least your country isn’t as bad as [Another terrible country]”
Like… dude… its that whole “Stop complaining, ‘there are starving children in Africa’” thing again. You’re invalidating other’s fears which is why people on the thread doesn’t like it.
Your focus should’ve been “China is not exactly better”, not “The USA is still better than China”. Which just have different implications. In the former statement, you are attacking PRC, which everyone here would agree. In the latter, you would sound like you’re defending the US, which is why people won’t like it. Your statements are in the latter category.
Where do you think China is on your scale? Oh yes…5/100
US is 10/100…
US > PRC
Again, telling Chinese dissidents: “At least your country is better than North Korea” is just dismissive of their struggles.
I never said that and I recognize and I sympathize with their struggle. The Chinese people are fine, the PRC is not.
I said the US is better than China. By what degree better is up for argument, sure. The reason the students are protesting here in the US and being heard, and being discussed on the news and openly here online, is because you and I (and everyone else) aren’t in fear that the government will drop police at our door because of this conversation.
I am all for open public debate and discourse, downvotes and all because it’s our right to be heard. It doesn’t matter where, EU, US, or China.
In the US, I have options on what to do if I feel the government isn’t doing the right thing. (Even moving to the EU). You can’t say that if you were a citizien living in China.
Nah, I think you’re missing the parts where this is how things go downhill.
For example:
ICE. Right now.
People are being rejected at the border for less (and specifically about Israel for now)
The WH pardoned insurrectionists, is considering pardoning kidnappers, and threatening prosecution whenever someone disagrees with anything they say.
… So its not just tankies who will take issue with what you’ve said, but also those who think people should be treated like people, genocide is terrible, and individual rights and freedoms exist for everyone, and not just the wealthy.
Yeah, there have been no repercussions for protesting against Gaza Genocide. /S
Trump imprisoned a college student for a negative article she wrote about him in her college paper opinion section. How is that any different.
I don’t know. How is a puddle different from a flood? They’re both water.
Nah.
The US is a Hybrid Regime in a quick decline into full authoritarianism. Not that much better than China.
Its hard to dunk on PRC when the USA is also heading towards the same direction. Maybe use the EU for a better comparison next time? (EU has far more freedoms than either USA or China)
So. Still better than China. We agree.
EU > US > China
You’re missing the logic. The US is on its way to a regime like Nazi Germany. Therefore, the US = Nazi Germany. The Republicans are pushing us toward fascism. The Democrats aren’t doing enough to stop them. Therefore, Democrats = Republicans.
I’m more optimistic than most that the safeguards in place will stop a slide to a full blown nazi government.
Um…
Nah.
No offense, but as an Asian American who was not born into this country and had to naturalize. I don’t exactly feel safe.
“Constitutional Protections” is not magic, is just people beliving in a set of practices, sort of like a religion. If people stop believing, “Constitution” is effectively dead.
Did you know, in People’s Republic of China, “Freedom of Expression” is in the constitution?
Well see how that turned out. Same is happening with the US.
The military is being purged of anyone who values the constitution over trump.
Of course, I hope the institutions of democracy survives. But its not guaranteed. I don’t exactly feel too optimistic. Perhaps if I was a white man born in the US, I’d feel safer. (no offense to white men btw)
That’s called delusion not optimism. They’re passing laws in Texas now that have clause saying they literally can not be challenged.
I was using satire to highlight the absurdity of your opponents’ argument.
I’m sorry, I’m a little dense.
Are you serious?
They can’t voice their opinion.
If they voice their opinion they get kicked out Even faster, but only after they’ve been put into a holding cell for days to weeks to months and maybe left to die of exposure for the crime of checks notes exercising the first amendment…
People in America are being thrown into a gulag with no hope for release to work as slave labor until they die in a foreign country.
There’s no silver lining here. We are becoming more like China. It’s not a good thing.
Did you read the article? They’re literally voicing their opinion, right there.
Becoming more like China, sure, but saying that means it’s not as bad as China. Not a good thing, I agree.
I think the concern here could be that revoking visas might be a first step towards a more intolerant policy a la China as referenced above
You’re right.
In the United States, you don’t have to even criticize the government to have your whole family thrown behind bars.
The United States will happily rendition your whole family to the United States Concentration Camps in El Salvador just for being in the United States.
The United States doesn’t imprison the people who hate the country. It imprisons the people who loved the country the most.
Let’s hope not!
You don’t need to be a tanki to know how ridiculous your comment is
China is still far worse than the US even under Trump. He’s right. All the counter-arguments are that America is headed the way of China. That’s true, but we’re not there yet.
The problem is, China in some instances is actually improving. The US is only devolving. We are now seriously adopting the worst of the worst of China’s social policies in many ways. With none of the tiny positive things.
Don’t get me wrong I will fight vanguards until my dying breath. Whether they are leninist or fascist. But I can also acknowledge The Accidental positive things that one might bring over the other.
They’ve literally spedrun nearly 150 years of industrialization that the other parts of the world went through in just about 50. They seriously improved the quality of life for many people over there even though they are also the biggest threat to their people. That’s all going to change soon. Now that they’ve largely caught up to everyone else.
But you can’t say that for the United States. For a long time they’ve only enriched themselves and no one else. As everyone else has suffered.
Yet there’s hope for the US, which has a sizable minority party. A second party at all would be remarkable in China.
We have another three and a half years of this 4 year Administration. All the guardrails are already failing currently. And that will only get worse. We will be lucky to even have elections again. And even if we do, Democrats haven’t even acknowledged the actual problems or made any effort to address them. More than willing to repeat them all again.
I won’t say it can’t happen. But I’ve seen nothing indicating that it will happen. Or anything that should give anyone hope that it will happen.
A comparison is not an equivalency
You basically agree with them , they didn’t say that the usa is as bad as china during genocide trump
They would have more freedoms elsewhere than the US, but still more freedoms in the US than China. The problem is they are not being let in or told to go home.
Uh they’re explicitly being told to go home. By you know having their visas canceled.
The “not” was supposed to apply to the “being let in” only. To apply it to the “told to go home” I would use “nor.”
Nobody disagree with that including those chinese people
Let’s just agree to agree on this matter.