Who is Xi Mingze? Xi Jinping's Harvard-educated daughter in news as Trump goes after student visas
Xi Mingze, China President Xi Jinping's Harvard-educated daughter, has been hitting headlines amid US President Donald Trump's actions against the premiere Ivy Leage institute over its non-compliance with his terms and conditions and subsequent grant cuts.
What has further brought Xi Mingze under spotlight is the US-China trade tension, amid which US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday that United States will start "aggressively" revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.
Xi Jinping's daughter Xi Mingze maintains a low public profile, with limited information available about her personal life.
Xi Mingze was born on June 25, 1992, and is the only child of Chinese President Xi Jinping and renowned folk singer Peng Liyuan, according to information available on the web.
Xi Mingze pursued higher education at Harvard University, enrolling in 2010 under a pseudonym to maintain privacy, according to unverified reports. While some reports say Xi Mingze graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and English, a Business Insider report, citing Taiwanese press, said that it is believed Xi Jinping's daughter has been studying at Harvard since 2010.
According to unverified reports in the Taiwanese press, Xi Mingze is protected by Chinese bodyguards 24 hours with FBI assistance. WantChinaTimes describes Xi Mingze as "a low-key and easy-going girl, who counts reading and fashion among her hobbies".
Beijing criticised the US decision to "unreasonably" revoke the visas of Chinese students, saying on Thursday 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," AFP news agency quote foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning as saying. "China firmly opposes this and has lodged representations with the US," the spokeswoman said.
In this context, Xi Mingze's speculated presence in the United States has garnered attention. She is reportedly residing in Massachusetts. Her situation has raised questions about her future in the US, including the possibility of deportation, although no official decision has been announced.
Former US Congress representative Vicky Hartzler had in 2022 revealed that Chinese President Xi Jinping's only daughter Xi Mingze is living in America. Hartzler had revealed this while she was introducing the "Protecting Higher Education from the Chinese Communist Party Act."
A Chinese current affairs commentator living in the US stated on his YouTube channel in February 2022 that Hartzler divulged the fact that the Xi Mingze lives in the US.
According to an ANI news agency report, the commentator pointed out that he said in 2019 that Xi's daughter has returned to the US after living in China for 5 years.
Xi Mingze studied French at her high school, Hangzhou Foreign Languages School, according to the ANI report.
The 2022 report mentioned that the commentator believes that Xi Mingze is still living in the same Cambridge area and is a research student there now.
A Chinese man, Niu Tengyu, was reportedly detained in 2019 and sentenced to 14 years in jail over websites publishing information about Xi Jinping's daughter and other high-ranking officials in 2019.
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