Musk exits DOGE after break with Trump

International students accounted for 5.9% of the total US higher education population of almost 19 million

- Reuters

WASHINGTON: The US plans to start "aggressively" revoking visas for Chinese students, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, escalating the Trump administration's push for greater scrutiny of foreigners attending American universities. Rubio said in a statement that students affected would include "those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields."

The US will also enhance scrutiny "of all future visa applications from the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong," he added.

China had the second most students in the US of any country in 2024, behind India.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning accused the US of taking its decision "under the pretext of ideology and national security" at a regular briefing in Beijing, on Thursday, adding that it would harm people-to-people relations.

"Such a politicised and discriminatory move lays bare the US lie behind the so-called freedom and openness that the US touts," she added. "It will only further undermine its image in the world and national reputation."

The decision comes just weeks after the US and China negotiated a truce in their tariff war. The issue of revoking visas could now emerge as another flashpoint between the world's two biggest economies, potentially upending progress made on trade. It will also add to heightened tensions over sales to China of sophisticated chips and Beijing's determination to limit US access to rare earths, which have been simmering even after the breakthrough agreement in Geneva to sharply lower tariffs for 90 days as officials try to strike a broader deal.

"This action intends to build a wall between two countries," said Wu Xinbo, director at Fudan University's Center for American Studies in Shanghai. "I don't think it will help facilitate the forthcoming trade talks between two sides."