“Netherlands to bar Chinese students from technical fields”

The Dutch government is working on legislation to prevent Chinese students and researchers from working on sensitive technology at Dutch universities, Education Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf states in the Financial Times. The bill doesn’t specifically target China: all students from outside the European Union will be subject to screening. However, insiders told Bloomberg that reservations about China’s regime are the reason for introducing stricter enrollment rules.

In the FT, Education Minister Dijkgraaf also voices concerns about grants from the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC). Recipients of these scholarships must swear allegiance to the Communist Party, report to local Chinese embassies and return to China for at least two years after obtaining their doctorate. “In general, the targeted use of grant programs to obtain high-quality knowledge and technology for the state is undesirable,” the minister said. “I’ve set up a study to see how many CSC researchers there are in the Netherlands and in which fields they’re active.” The results will be shared with the House of Representatives later this year.