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Kawala Xie

A Chinese student’s graduation speech at Harvard University emphasising “shared humanity” and calling for global unity has gone viral, days after the Trump administration pledged to “aggressively” revoke the visas of students from China.
Yurong “Luanna” Jiang is the first Chinese woman selected to be the student speaker at a Harvard graduation ceremony.
Her emotional speech on Thursday was delivered on the same day that a federal judge blocked a Department of Homeland Security order seeking to prevent the Ivy League university from enrolling international students.
US President Donald Trump’s showdown with Harvard – which the White House accuses of maintaining ties with the Chinese Communist Party – unfolds against the backdrop of deepening US-China tensions.
The US State Department announced last week that it would intensify screening and “aggressively” revoke student visas for Chinese nationals, including “those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields”.
The move is widely believed to stem from Washington’s long-standing concerns that Chinese students enrolled in advanced science and engineering programmes could be involved in espionage activities that bolster Beijing’s military capabilities, posing a significant national security threat.
The stand-off with Harvard is also part of Trump’s broader campaign against elite academic institutions. Harvard, alongside other Ivy League institutions like Columbia and Princeton, has also come under scrutiny for allegedly fostering antisemitism in the wake of widespread pro-Palestinian demonstrations following the Gaza war. They are now facing substantial federal funding cuts.


In her speech, Jiang defended the role of international students in shaping a globally interconnected world, warning that “a connected world” built by diversity and international development was “giving way to division, fear, and conflict”.
Harvard currently hosts more than 10,000 international students, who make up roughly 30 per cent of its student body, including about 2,000 from China.
“Humanity rises and falls as one,” Jiang said.
“But today … we’re starting to believe that people who think differently, vote differently, or pray differently – whether they’re across the ocean or sitting right next to us – are not just wrong. We mistakenly see them as evil. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
“If we still believe in a shared future, let us not forget: those we label as enemies – they, too, are human. In seeing their humanity, we find our own. In the end, we don’t rise by proving each other wrong. We rise by refusing to let one another go.”
“We are bound by something deeper than belief: our shared humanity,” she concluded.
Although Jiang did not explicitly mention Trump’s immigration policies, she later told the Associated Press that recent threats to detain or deport international students had made her and her peers feel anxious and uncertain about their future in the United States.
Jiang said she was considering pursuing international development work abroad instead of staying on, while two of her Chinese classmates were weighing whether to pursue internships in Africa, fearing they might be unable to return if they left.
She emphasised the importance of increased US-China academic exchange, arguing that the world’s two largest economies should collaborate on addressing global issues like climate change.
Her speech has sparked heated discussion on both Chinese and American social media, including among political commentators in the US who accused her of having Communist Party links.
A prominent X account titled “amuse” – run by self-described Republican businessman Alexander Muse and followed by figures such as Elon Musk and Trump’s children Donald Trump Jnr and Ivanka Trump – alleged that Jiang was “a representative of a CCP-funded and monitored NGO”, using the acronym for China’s ruling party.
The post also described her remarks as “parroting [Chinese President] Xi Jinping’s diplomatic rhetoric about a ‘shared future for mankind’”.
The account has previously promoted pro-Trump content, including misinformation about former vice-president Kamala Harris and the pop star Taylor Swift.


According to state-backed website ThePaper.cn, Jiang volunteered for the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, an environmental organisation set up in 1985 by the State Council, China’s cabinet.
She received a recommendation letter from the foundation’s secretary-general for her Harvard application, which has fuelled speculation about her connections to state-linked organisations. The South China Morning Post cannot independently verify the information.
Jiang’s speech received widespread coverage on Chinese social media, with many endorsing her vision of “a shared humanity”. But some users also questioned whether she was a suitable representative of the broader Chinese student population, given her elite education.
According to Harvard Magazine, Jiang attended high school in the United Kingdom after growing up in eastern China. She completed her undergraduate degree at Duke University before enrolling at the Harvard Kennedy School for a master’s degree.


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Harvard Chinese student’s graduation speech strikes a chord as Trump leads crackdown

Yurong “Luanna” Jiang delivers her speech at Harvard University on May 29. Photo: AP

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The Chinese embassy in Washington has issued a démarche - a routine diplomatic tool that is not usually delivered publicly - registering condemnation of the US decision to revoke Chinese student visas. Photo: AFP

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China has lodged formal protests and condemned America’s earlier announced student visa crackdown as “politically motivated and discriminatory”. Photo: Reuters

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If the US cancels visas for Chinese students, it could deal a “fata blow” to cultural and educational exchanges between the two countries, according to one analyst. Photo: AP

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A graduate’s cap reads “Learn to Change the World” during Harvard’s commencement ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Thursday. Photo: AFP

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More than a quarter of those studying at Harvard are foreigners, many of them Chinese. Photo: TNS

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China

Diplomacy

First Chinese woman selected student speaker at a Harvard graduation sparks heated discussion on both Chinese and American social media


First Chinese woman selected student speaker at a Harvard graduation sparks heated discussion on both Chinese and American social media.


Harvard Chinese student’s graduation speech strikes a chord as Trump leads crackdown

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}First Chinese woman selected student speaker at a Harvard graduation sparks heated discussion on both Chinese and American social media

First Chinese woman selected student speaker at a Harvard graduation sparks heated discussion on both Chinese and American social media