Why are Chinese students who feel for Gaza choosing to stay away as pro-Palestine protests sweep US campuses?
- Many Chinese students in the US are outraged by the loss of innocent lives in Palestine, but have avoided direct participation in the protests
- The reasons range from putting their visa, studies or careers at risk, to being forever marked as a participant in social unrest
Alisa Chen, a postgraduate student from China at New York’s Columbia University, feels the recent wave of pro-Palestine protests on campus is justified.
“I don’t think any side of the war is 100 per cent right,” said Chen, who enrolled at Columbia last year. “Plus, there might be consequences, such as the risk of the school suspending your class or terminating your enrolment.”
She is not alone. The Post spoke to 10 Chinese students enrolled at different US universities. Like Chen, they are outraged by loss of innocent lives, but have avoided direct participation in the protests, citing a lack of personal connection or understanding of both Israeli and Palestinian points of view.
While some are unhappy about how the universities handled the protests, they are more worried about being on the record for participating in them, fearing it might put their student visa or future careers at risk.
Another student from China at Columbia, who asked only to be identified as “Chen”, said her Chinese friends and she had donated some money and offered supplies to students still camping out on the university lawns, after successive New York police raids on the campus.
