China slams US as racist over student visa row

US move to revoke the visas of over 1,000 Chinese students amounts to “outright political persecution and racial discrimination,” China’s foreign ministry said on Thursday.

The statement from spokesperson Zhao Lijian came a day after acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said his department was blocking visas for “certain Chinese graduate students and researchers with ties to China’s military fusion strategy to prevent them from stealing and otherwise appropriating sensitive research.”

Zhao said the US has been taking a series of negative actions in the area of cultural exchange between the two countries, running contrary to its self-proclaimed idea of being free and open.

The latest move damaged the “legitimate rights and interests of Chinese students studying in the US,” Zhao said.

He said the US should “immediately stop using all kinds of pretexts to restrict and suppress Chinese students in the US for no reason.”

“It is outright political persecution and racial discrimination, and seriously violated the human rights of Chinese students studying there,” Zhao said. “China reserves the right to make further responses to this matter.”

A US State Department spokeswoman said the visa action followed a May 29 proclamation by President Donald Trump. “As of September 8, 2020, the department has revoked more than 1,000 visas of PRC nationals who were found to be subject to Presidential Proclamation 10043 and therefore ineligible for a visa,” she said.

US-China relations have hit their lowest ebb in decades amid frictions over trade, technology, intellectual property and a myriad of other issues.

Chinese students make up the largest group of foreign students at American colleges and universities, with about 370,000 enrolled. New visa restrictions and the coronavirus pandemic have already created considerable uncertainty about their academic future in the US.

They are also a lucrative source of income to institutions that are now facing growing pressure from the pandemic.

Some Asian-American activists have warned that Trump’s orders are creating a climate of suspicion on campuses, with students of Asian descent facing unfounded questions about their intentions.

Some Chinese students enrolled in US universities said they learned of the cancellations in e-mailed notices received on Wednesday from the US embassy in Beijing or consulates in China.

In a WeChat chatrooom, more than 70 holders of F-1 visas, both postgraduates and undergraduates, said the notices advised them to seek new visas if they wanted to travel to the US.

China said in June it resolutely opposed any US move to restrict Chinese students from studying in the United States and urged Washington to do more to enhance mutual exchanges and understanding.

Last week, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying criticized the US for deliberately fabricating lies, stigmatizing and demonizing Chinese students studying abroad.

“I don’t know how many Chinese parents can safely send their children to the US to study under such circumstances,” she said. “The US we see today is totally different. It is now full of hatred and exclusion.”