This “study”, with three of the authors being Chinese (and therefore likely biased on this subject), is making the flimsiest of claims, and frankly it is unbelievable that this opinion is being laundered through science.org as some kind of interesting finding. Those same graduate students that provided teaching positions also took graduate degree spots (and the teaching positions) away from others. Program expansion could have happened even otherwise. And the lift to local businesses is so minor, and again would have been true with other students who could have instead admitted.

What’s missing is the assessment of the value and risks of taking on these particular students relative to other alternative students. Taking in students who are Chinese nationals could be a strategic mistake given geopolitical issues, with many of those students taking knowledge (from their degrees and from research) back to China, where it lends strength to the CCP effectively. Maybe that was still worth it due to other unique benefits, but that’s not really explored here.