President Donald Trump’s administration is likely to ‘aggressively’ revoke the visas of Chinese students studying in the United States. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told international media that the move would include “those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.” Criteria for visas will also further be revised to “enhance scrutiny” of future visa applicants from China and Hong Kong, according to the Secretary of State.
Relations between China and the US saw a dip in recent months as the tariff trade war erupted between the two superpowers. Now the cost of this war will be borne by an estimated 80,000 Chinese students studying in the US as of last year. Chinese nationals also used to account for the bulk of international students enrolled at American universities. This trend has recently shifted, especially after the pandemic era restrictions and the strain in relations between the two countries.
“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… We’ll also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applicants from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong,” said Secretary of State Rubio.
The Trump administration is already in the process of deporting a number of foreign students by revoking thousands of visas, in spite of some of these actions being banned by the court. Alongside, Trump has also frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for universities. This includes choking the funding of America’s most elite institutions, such as Harvard, on the grounds that the institution is too liberal and fails to combat antisemitism on campus.
Beijing has not yet responded to the US move to revoke the visas of Chinese students specifically; however, it has verbally acknowledged the new move.
“We urge the US side to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of international students, including those from China,” an official told international media.
