During Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States in November 2023, he announced a plan to invite 50,000 American youths to study and exchange in China during the next five years. Since then, this five-year program has been highly-publicized in Chinese media.
Xinhua News Agency reported on March 17 that a group of 24 middle school students from Washington state, organized by the U.S.-China Youth and Student Exchange Association, left San Francisco on March 16 for an 11-day visit to China. Other Chinese media have published subsequent reports about their trip. A Yibao article titled “Xi Jinping’s recruitment of America’s youngsters,” published on Feb. 16, 2024, stated that at least five groups of U.S. students completed trips to China as of January 2024. These groups include graduate students from Columbia University; table tennis players from Virginia; undergraduates from California State University, Long Beach; high school students from Muscatine, Iowa; and even elementary school students from Utah.
Political observers have remarked that Beijing likely wants to get something out of this exchange program. Since the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. federal government have taken a bipartisan stance against the CCP, Beijing is trying to gain influence through civil exchange as well as through local governments (e.g. winning over agricultural U.S. states by buying agricultural products from them), circumventing the federal government.
Source: Epoch Times, March 25, 2024
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/24/3/25/n14210335.htm