U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the Department of Homeland Security will “aggressively” revoke the visas of Chinese students, particularly those “with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.”
Rubio wrote in a statement Wednesday that visa criteria will also be revised to “enhance scrutiny” of all future applications from the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese territory of Hong Kong.
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According to NBC News, although Rubio did not specify what he meant by “critical fields,” the U.S. and China are concerned about each other’s advancements in areas such as biotechnology, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence. During a news briefing Thursday, the U.S. State Department said it would not tolerate the “exploitation” of American universities or theft of U.S. research and intellectual property by Beijing.
“We use every tool that we have to vet and to make sure we know who’s coming in,” said spokesperson Tammy Bruce. “In this particular case, the United States is putting America first by beginning to revoke visas of Chinese students as warranted.”
Some Chinese students say the U.S. is starting to resemble their native country.
“USA stands for freedom. It stands for democracy. That’s why we come here to chase our dreams,” a Chinese Ph.D. student at a New Jersey university who requested anonymity, told NBC News. “In China, the government can control education, high schools, colleges, universities. We thought that the USA could be different.”
Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, criticized Rubio’s announcement during a briefing in Beijing on Thursday.
“This politically discriminatory move exposes the hypocrisy of America’s long-proclaimed values of freedom and openness, and will only further damage the United States’ international image and credibility,” Mao said.
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Chinese nationals make up roughly 25% of all international students in the U.S., as well as 16% of all graduate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) students, according to Reuters.
An estimated 277,000 Chinese students were enrolled in U.S. colleges in the 2023-24 academic year. By contrast, there were only about 800 Americans studying in China last year.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, intentional students — 54% of whom are from India or China — contributed more than $50 billion to the U.S. economy in 2023.
