Beijing has strongly condemned the US decision, announced on Wednesday, to revoke the visas of Chinese students.
“The US has unreasonably cancelled Chinese students’ visas under the pretext of ideology and national rights,” the German news outlet DW quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning as saying. “China firmly opposes this and has lodged representations with the US.”
Mao went on to say that the decision had “seriously damaged the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese students and disrupted the normal cultural exchanges between the two countries.”
“This political and discriminatory practice by the US has exposed the lies of the so-called freedom and openness that the US has always promoted, and further damaged the US’s own international image, national reputation and credibility,” she said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday evening that visas for Chinese students would be “aggressively” revoked and that future visa applications from China and Hong Kong would be subjected to enhanced scrutiny.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, the US State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” he said in a statement.
“We will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong,” the statement added.
China has continued to send a substantial number of students into the US, second only to India as the top source of international students, even as students and academics from the country have faced increasing scrutiny by the US government.
More than 2,77,000 Chinese citizens accounted for nearly 25 percent of all international students in the US.
Senator Ashley Moody, the Florida Republican who introduced a bill proposing to ban all Chinese students in the US, accused American universities of “importing espionage”.
“The US is no longer in the business of importing espionage,” she said in a post on X.
The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) issued a statement condemning Rubio’s announcement. “The wholesale revocation of student visas based on national origin – and without an investigation – is xenophobic and wrong,” it said. “Turning these students away – many of whom simply wish to learn in a free and democratic society – is not just shortsighted but a betrayal of our values.”
The State Department’s move on Wednesday followed a series of actions aimed more broadly at restricting international students to address alleged threats to national security.
On Tuesday, Rubio reportedly sent a diplomatic cable to America’s embassies and consulates worldwide to stop scheduling student visa interviews as Trump’s administration considers more expansive vetting of the social media profiles of applicants.
Chinese students are one of the largest sources of revenue for US universities, accounting for roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the country. Only India has a larger contingent studying in the US.
The visa move appears to be in line with the Trump administration’s seemingly hostile attitude towards US institutions of higher learning, which it seemingly regards as bastions of liberal ideology that run counter to its own agenda.
