Thirty-six years later, no one knows his real name — or his fate.

On June 5, 1989, “Tank Man” stared down a column of PLA tanks in Tiananmen Square. History bears repeating. The Chinese Communist government continues to do everything in its power “to suppress history” and erase the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

In April 1989, pro-democracy students began protesting against the Chinese Communist government’s oppressive restrictions on freedom of speech and democratic values. Impatient with the students’ impunity, the Chinese Communist government ordered a military attack on its own citizens.

“Using live ammunition, soldiers forced their way through crowds that tried to block them from reaching the square,” the Associated Press recalls. “Hundreds and possibly thousands of people were killed, including dozens of soldiers.”

The day after the violent crackdown, “Tank Man” bravely returned to Tiananmen Square.

That makes June 5 an especially odd time for the this newspaper to publish an editorial criticizing the Trump administration for revoking student visas for those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party.

Under the Biden administration, student visas have acted as a fast-track entry program for China’s placement of foreign spies into the United States. In the 2023-24 academic year, approximately 277,000 Chinese nationals were in the United States on student visas, including more than 51,000 Chinese nationals studying in California.

Earlier this week, the FBI arrested a University of Michigan graduate student and her boyfriend who smuggled a dangerous agroterrorism weapon into the United States. The pair planned to use a University of Michigan laboratory to distribute the dangerous pathogen known to cause billions of dollars in economic damage to wheat, barley, maize and rice.

“This case is a sobering reminder that the CCP is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences... putting American lives and our economy at serious risk,” stated FBI Director Kash Patel.

Every 12 hours, the FBI opens a new case into CCP-related espionage. Many of those cases can be traced back to a student visa at a University of California or California State University campus. Fang Fang, the notorious Chinese spy that seduced numerous Democrat officials and fundraised for Bay Area Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell, got her start as a student at California State University, East Bay.

Even progressive outlets have warned against the Chinese Communist influence at U.S. universities. In 2018, an investigation by the far-left magazine, The New Republic, detailed the substantial influence, intimidation and censorship by Chinese Communists at U.S. universities. Agents for China’s Ministry of State Security routinely pose as students and then recruit real students to spy for the Chinese Communist government.

“American academia, with its cutting-edge technology, access to American thought leaders, and ability to shape future generations of American citizens, remains a top target for the Chinese government,” explains Rachelle Peterson, author of Outsourced to China: Confucius Institutes and Soft Power in American Higher Education.

China’s student spies don’t just target America interests. They also terrorize students that criticize China. After a Purdue University student praised the heroism of students in Tiananmen Square, his parents back home got a visit from officers of the Ministry of State Security. The threat was clear: stop or else.

“I think some of the Chinese students in my school are CCP members,” the Chinese student told ProPublica in 2021. “I can tell they are not simply students. They could be spies or informants.”

ProPublica, Human Rights Watch, and The New Republic — hardly conservative outlets — report that U.S. colleges and universities turn a blind eye to Chinese Communist espionage and intimidation because of the “lucrative financial stream.” As much as $60 billion in foreign funds is believed to be funneled into American colleges and universities.

UC campuses are often at the end of the CCP money trail.

The Daily Beast reported that UC Berkeley failed to report “a highly sensitive $240 million joint tech venture in China that has been running for the last eight years.” As a member of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, we warned about the CCP gaining access to research through this Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute. The Biden administration ignored our concerns about the threat to sensitive economic, technological and military research. Thankfully, the Trump administration has now launched an investigation to secure our national security.

Like a modern day “Tank Man,” President Trump is bravely standing up to the Chinese Communist government. The Trump administration’s new student visa policy is a sensible defense of economic freedom, democracy and human rights – here and around the world.

Michelle Steel, a first-generation Korean-American immigrant, previously represented California’s 45th Congressional District.