Targeted abroad and shunned at home: Chinese overseas students caught in limbo

Hong Kong —

For Chinese students, a degree from a US university was once considered a “golden ticket” to coveted jobs back home. But many are now finding that geopolitics is blunting their ambitions.

The Trump administration’s threat of visa cancellations – later shelved after a trade-truce phone call between the US president and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in early June – has compounded already swirling uncertainty for Chinese students in the US.

And at home, some graduates are finding their experience abroad is raising red flags with employers, who are increasingly casting a suspicious eye over graduates trained at foreign universities worldwide.

With their parents footing the hefty bill, some Chinese students are asking if studying abroad is now worth it, especially when the domesti