Chinese students 'anxious' and 'angry' after Rubio vows to revoke US visas

New Indian Express

3 days ago

HONG KONG: Chinese students studying in the US are scrambling to figure out their futures after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday that some of them would have their visas revoked.
The US will begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students, including those studying in 'critical fields" and "those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party," according to the announcement.
China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the United States, behind only India. In the 2023-2024 school year, more than 270,000 international students were from China, making up roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the US.
Rubio's announcement was a 'new version of the Chinese Exclusion Act,' said Liqin, a Chinese student at Johns Hopkins University, who asked to be identified only by his first name out of fear of retaliation.
He was referring to a 19th-century law that prohibited Chinese from immigrating to the US and banned Chinese people already in the US from getting citizenship. He said Wednesday was the first time he thought about leaving the US after spending a third of his life here.
Chinese international students are a point of tension
China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, called the US decision unreasonable. 'Such a politicized and discriminatory action lays bare the US lie that it upholds so-called freedom and openness," she said Thursday, adding that China has lodged a protest with the US.
The issue of Chinese students studying overseas has long been a point of tension in the bilateral relationship. In 2019, during Trump's first term, China's Ministry of Education warned students about visa issues in the US, with rising rejection rates and shortening of visas.
Last year, the Chinese Foreign Ministry protested that a number of Chinese students were unfairly interrogated and sent home upon arrival at US airports.
Chinese state media has long hyped gun violence in the US and violent protests during the pandemic, and portrayed the US as a dangerous place that wasn't safe for its citizens. The tense bilateral relationship has also meant that some Chinese students are opting to study in the UK or other countries over the US after the pandemic.
Zou Renge, a 27-year-old public policy master's student at the University of Chicago, said she had planned to take some time off and work in humanitarian aid programs abroad after graduating at the end of this year.
But now, she will refrain from leaving the US and will look for jobs in the meantime. 'In a very uncertain environment, I'll try my best to find myself a solution,' she said.