China slams 'unreasonable' US decision to revoke student visas

Beijing criticised the United States' decision to "unreasonably" revoke the visas of Chinese students, saying on Thursday (May 29) it had lodged protests with Washington following the announcement by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

"The US has unreasonably cancelled Chinese students' visas under the pretext of ideology and national rights," foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said. "China firmly opposes this and has lodged representations with the US."

The foreign ministry also urged the US to be more constructive towards stable bilateral relations. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio

announced on Wednesday that the US will start "aggressively" revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.

In a statement, Rubio said the State Department will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from China and Hong Kong.

"The US State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students," he said.

If applied to a broad segment of the hundreds of thousands of Chinese university students in the US, the move could disrupt a major source of income for American schools and a crucial pipeline of talent for US technology companies.

China's foreign ministry previously vowed to "firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests" of its students overseas, following the Trump administration's move to revoke Harvard University's ability to enrol foreign students, many of whom are Chinese.

President Donald Trump's administration has sought to ramp up deportations and revoke student visas as part of wide-ranging efforts to fulfil its hardline immigration agenda.

The State Department has broad authority to issue and revoke visas. The administration last week cited Harvard University's ties to China as among several reasons for revoking its ability to enrol foreign students, a move temporarily blocked by a US judge.