Why the US should restore the Fulbright programme for China

The number of Hong Kong undergraduate students studying in the US, for example, dropped from 5,272 in 2015-2016 to 3,021 in 2022-2023. Over the same period, the number of graduate students rose from 1,041 to 1,589. The United States has the most influential and one of the largest university systems in the world. Meanwhile, Hong Kong has multiple universities that are globally ranked.

Between 2015 and 2021, US agencies supported nearly US$30 million worth of research in Chinese universities and other institutions. Funded research programmes can be an important tool for building trust. In recent years, China and the US have co-published more research articles than any other country.