TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Amid the U.S.-China trade conflict and the ongoing social unrest in Hong Kong, reports this week suggest that the daughter of China’s supreme leader Xi Jinping may have returned to the United States to engage in graduate-level studies at Harvard University.

Xi Mingzhe (習明澤) previously completed her undergraduate studies at Harvard in 2014. Her re-enrollment in 2019 may indicate that Xi Jinping considers the United States to be a safer place for his child than Beijing, in the midst of political intrigue and possible danger.

Xi Mingzhe was born in 1992 and is the only child of Xi Jinping and Chinese singer Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛). Now News reports that Mingzhe has been back in the U.S. attending classes for some time and may have begun graduate studies in 2018.

The report states that Xi Mingzhi was unsatisfied with her life in China after living for several years as a student in the United States. Out of love for his daughter, Xi Jinping was reportedly persuaded to let her return to school in Massachusetts, where she had enjoyed her undergraduate years.

Some observers also consider the move, if true, to be a potential safeguard. Sending his daughter back to the U.S. might be considered a diplomatic measure to signal trust in Washington and also a means for Xi to remove his daughter from harm if factional struggles within the Communist Party were ever to threaten Xi’s grip on power.