US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that the US would begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students, including those studying in “critical fields.”
China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the US, behind only India. In the 2023-2024 academic year, more than 270,000 international students were from China, making up about one-quarter of all foreign students in the US.
“Under [US] President [Donald] 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,” Rubio wrote.
Photo: AFP
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) yesterday called the decision unreasonable.
“Such a politicized and discriminatory action lays bare the US lie that it upholds the so-called freedom and openness,” Mao said, adding that Beijing had lodged a protest with Washington.
The action comes at a time of intensifying scrutiny of the ties between US higher education and China.
The US House of Representatives this month pressed Duke University to cut its ties with a Chinese university, saying it allowed Chinese students to gain access to federally funded research at Duke.
Last year, the House issued a report warning that hundreds of millions of dollars in defense funding was going to research partnerships linked to the Chinese government, providing “back-door access to the very foreign adversary nation whose aggression these capabilities are necessary to protect against.”
The US Department of Homeland Security raised similar issues in a letter barring international students at Harvard University last week.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem accused Harvard of “coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party,” citing research collaborations with Chinese academics.
It also accused Harvard of training members of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a Chinese paramilitary group.
The announcement came a day after Rubio halted the scheduling of new visa interviews for international students as the state department prepares guidelines for increased vetting of their activity on social media.
Together, the announcements from the state department added to uncertainty for international students in the US.
Earlier this year, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested and tried to deport students who had been involved in campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war.
The Trump administration abruptly terminated the legal status of thousands of international students before reversing itself and then expanding the grounds on which students can lose permission to study in the US.
The Trump administration last week moved to block Harvard University from enrolling more international students, a decision that has been put on hold by a federal judge, pending a lawsuit.
Trump on Wednesday said that Harvard, which has a student population that is more than one-quarter international, should limit that percentage to about 15 percent.
“I want to make sure the foreign students are people that can love our country,” Trump said.
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