Even in liberal arts, Chinese liberal arts graduates (degrees like Chinese literature, Asian languages, history, etc) are typically bilingual or trilingual, can read and write classical Chinese and speak with coherence and confidence using literary language without scripts.I did illustrate some of the problems with the American higher education system in a previous post
1. Liberal arts degrees are generally scams
2. Private institutions running wild
You raise another point that I've seen come up here before as well. The best and brightest going into business instead of Science. Actually this also applies to STEM grads themselves. I know of 3 people who went to MIT and all end up in business related fields. 1 of them went back to researching only because he made so much money, but the research is just a hobby now, not serious.
I don't think being too soft is the issue, people's attitudes can change if they want. I just think the direction of America is not really heading in a good way.
Leaving it only to Chinese scientists (because that is what the article was focused on), a few factors are immediately obvious
1. Increasing discrimination and restrictions on freedom. America prides itself on being the "land of the free", yet since 2000 (when Wen Ho Lee was arrested and career ruined), rather than learn a lesson, America LEO has doubled down on cracking down on ethnic Chinese scientists. In China, you know what kind of politics and speech to stay away from, but the Law Enforcement in America is going as far as using your visits to friends and family against you.
2. Rising quality of life in China. This one is easy. Even though in the 90's and 00's there was a big increase in quality of life in China, it was still not quite at western levels. Today, you can live on par with the USA in terms of food, goods, cars, etc. Your living space will probably still be smaller though.
3. (Perceptions of?) Rising violence and homelessness. 6/10 worst mass shooting incidents have occurred in the last ten years. Many of them at schools. This isn't really the kind of environment that a scientist (or anyone) wants for their family.
FM Wang Yi is a typical Chinese liberal arts graduate: fully bilingual in Chinese and Japanese, still fluent in English, writes coherently and speaks without stuttering or looking at a script using literary language.
Compare that to liberal arts grads from some certain country:
1. Still monolingual
2. Still reads a script
3. Stutters, uses "uh" and "um" because mouth moves faster than brain
4. Doesn't know historical context
5. Can't understand classical English
You know Sleepy.Joe has a double major in history, political science, with minor in English? The guy is supposedly educated in history, politics, and English! Imagine that when listening to him talk.