US plan to ‘aggressively’ revoke Chinese student visas is denounced by China

Beijing has rebuked the Trump administration’s latest decision to revoke visas for Chinese students, leaving over 277,000 students to question their academic future in the U.S.

Driving the news: Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday that the State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to “aggressively revoke” visas for Chinese students “with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” as well as enhance scrutiny of future visa applications from China and Hong Kong. The announcement follows incidents involving Chinese nationals at U.S. universities, including cases where students were charged with photographing military installations at Camp Grayling and Key West naval base and making false statements to federal officials.

Reactions: Chinese students expressed alarm and frustration at the policy changes. For one, Liqin, a Johns Hopkins University student, called the announcement a “new version of the Chinese Exclusion Act,” referencing the 19th-century law that prohibited Chinese immigration. Meanwhile, Haipei Shue, president of United Chinese Americans, expressed “profound disappointment,” contrasting today’s hostility with the warm welcome he received as a Chinese student in 1987.

What China is saying: Beijing has sharply criticized the latest U.S. policy in official statements. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian slammed the move as “fully unjustified,” saying it “seriously hurts the lawful rights and interests of international students from China and disrupts people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.” Spokesperson Mao Ning characterized it as a politicized and discriminatory action that exposes “the lie of the so-called freedom and openness that the U.S. has always boasted of.”

The big picture: The policy, which follows a similar congressional push, marks an escalation of U.S.-China tensions, potentially harming American universities’ finances and technology sector recruitment. International students contributed over $50 billion to the U.S. economy in 2023, with Chinese students making up 16% of all graduate STEM students nationwide. Hong Kong has moved to capitalize on the situation, with leader John Lee announcing the city would welcome affected students, while local universities began expediting applications from top U.S. schools. Academic unions have also pushed back, with more than 20 organizations writing an open letter demanding universities refuse congressional requests for data on Chinese students and faculty.