Proponents of studying in China argue that it’s key to “understanding” the country. They say less about what specifically we need to understand — or why. In fact, the kind of insight that will help the United States outcompete the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) does not necessarily require substantial time there. The real key is a devotion to uncovering truths that the CCP doesn’t want exposed.

CCP ruler Xi Jinping has turned China into an intelligence state where, as the former British intelligence director Nigel Inkster points out, “protecting secrets” from “possible spies” is “an all-of-nation undertaking” and “even schoolchildren are taught to recognize threats.” This makes independent research harder than ever to pursue in China. Given the revolution in sensors and data, however, it is perhaps easier than ever to execute remotely.

Are there still topics for which time in-country matters, and is it possible to look around and see things the CCP would prefer stayed hidden? Yes on both counts, of course. But the idea that important knowledge can come only through visits supervised by the CCP, as all exchanges these days are, is a fiction purveyed by apparatchiks from Xi on down. The con has not only survived but thrived, due to the mismatch in aims of the private citizens on the US side of exchanges and the CCP on the Chinese side.

While Americans see language learning or cross-cultural experience as the goal of studying abroad, the CCP’s internal discussions reveal motivations that are much less about personal........

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