Tensions between Beijing and Washington could drive mainland Chinese students to universities outside the United States, a Hong Kong minister has said, while urging the city’s institutions to avoid sharply increasing their intake of non-local applicants to maintain their teaching quality.

Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin also said on Saturday that Hong Kong’s universities had always been attractive to non-local students regardless of geopolitics, but current tensions could now mean more potential applicants from the mainland.

“There have always been many [mainland students applying to Hong Kong universities]. With many uncertain factors in the United States, parents will have to consider other study locations,” she told a radio programme.

“I’ve noticed that there have also been fewer Hong Kong students studying abroad in the United States.”

Such students could face deportation under the country’s aggressive immigration clampdown.