The large number of international students enrolled by national universities is related to both national policies and the needs of universities themselves.
First, in terms of national policies, some of the enrolled international students come from three continents: Asia, Africa and Latin America. At present, China is implementing aid policies to some countries on three continents, and recruiting foreign students is to help them cultivate high-quality talents. This reflects China's responsibility as a big country from an international perspective, so China has slightly improved the treatment of international students.
Second, in response to the national call, in order to improve their ranking in international universities, the threshold for recruiting international students is far lower than that of domestic candidates. At the same time, in order to retain the elite of international students, colleges and universities treat international students slightly higher than domestic students.
To sum up, I think when the "privilege" of international students can be removed has a lot to do with the construction of domestic universities. The construction here refers not to the new building, but to the growth of the university's own strength. The number of international students is a factor to judge a university's ranking in the world, but the strength of the university itself is more important. When you have enough strength, there will be a steady stream of excellent international students, and the treatment of international students will naturally decrease at this time. Similarly, at this stage, the country is still in the initial stage of recruiting international students, and many measures are still not perfect. With the improvement of the country's research on international students, many of its "privileges" will be cancelled one by one.