US President Donald Trump’s administration said that it will aggressively revoke the visas of Chinese students studying in the United States. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that the move would include those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields. He added that visa criteria will also be revised to enhance scrutiny of future visa applicants from China and Hong Kong.
Relations between Beijing and Washington have plummeted in recent months as a tit-for-tat trade war erupted between the two superpowers sparked by Trump’s tariffs. Earlier on Monday, Rubio, who is America’s top diplomat, ordered US embassies around the world to stop scheduling appointments for student visas as the state department prepares to expand social media vetting of such applicants.
The Trump administration has already moved to deport several foreign students, while revoking thousands of visas for others. Many of these actions have been blocked by the courts. It has also frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for universities. The president sees some of America’s most elite institutions, such as Harvard, as too liberal and accuses them of failing to combat antisemitism on campus. Many US universities rely on foreign students for a significant chunk of their funding, as those scholars often pay higher tuition fees.
Must Read
- Advertisement -
