Beijing reacted with indignation on Thursday (29) to the promise of the United States government, condemning the repression of President Donald Trump to international academics as “politics and discriminatory.”
On Wednesday, the Trump government announced that it would “aggressively” remove permissions for Chinese students-one of the largest sources of revenue for US universities-in its latest attack on higher education in the US.
The US will also revise the visa grant criteria to harden checks in all future requests from China and Hong Kong, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Criticizing the US for “unjustifiably” canceling the visas of Chinese students, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mao Ning, said Beijing has already presented his opposition to Washington.
Rubio increased tension after China criticizes its decision the day before, of temporarily suspending sight of students visas worldwide.
The Trump government had already tried to end the granting of visas for all Harvard University, who resisted the President’s pressures related to student protests.
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Young Chinese have been essential to US universities, which depend on international students who pay full monthly fees.
China sent 277,398 students in the academic year of 2023-24, although India, for the first time in years, has surpassed this number, according to a report from the Institute of International Education, with support from the State Department.
During his previous term, Trump also aimed at Chinese students, but focused especially on those who worked in sensitive areas or who had explicit bonds with the army.
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Global uncertainty
On Wednesday (28), Mao said that China installed the United States to “protect the rights and legitimate interests of international students, including those of China.”
Rubio had already celebrated the revocation of thousands of visas, mostly international students involved in critical activism to Israel.
A memorandum signed by Rubio on Tuesday ordered US embassies and consulates to not provide “no additional capacity for scheduling visas from students or exchange students until new guidelines are issued” about increasing account sorting on social networks of the applicants.
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On Wednesday, Rubio increased the pressure on China, stating that Washington will “repeal the visas of Chinese students aggressively, including those with calls to the Chinese Communist Party or study in critical areas.”
“We will also review the visa criteria to reinforce the screening of all future visa requests from the Popular Republic of China and Hong Kong,” he said.
However, the set of measures also threatens students from allied countries in the United States.
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In Taiwan, a doctoral student about to study in California expressed “uncertainty” due to the suspension of visas.
“I understand that the process may be delayed, but it is still for some time until the beginning of the semester in mid -August,” said the 27 -year -old student, who declined to be identified.
“All I can do now is wait and cheer for the best.”
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Protests in Harvard
Trump is furious with Harvard for rejecting his government’s attempt to supervise admissions and signings amid the president’s allegations that the university is a center of anti -Semitism and liberal ideology “Woke”.
A judge temporarily suspended the order that would raise foreign students, awaiting a scheduled audience on Thursday-the same day as the university’s graduation ceremony, which brought together thousands of students and their families in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The White House also removed from Harvard – and other American universities widely considered among the most prestigious in the world – federal funding for research.
“The president is more interested in allocating this taxpayer money to state technical schools, programs and universities that promote American values and, most importantly, educate the next generation based on the skills we need in our economy and society,” White House Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the secretary, to Fox News.
Some Harvard students fear that Trump government policies make US universities less attractive to foreigners.
“I don’t know if I would do a doctorate here. Six years is a long time,” said Jack, a British student of medical history, who is graduating this week and provided only the first name.
Harvard has already entered several legal proceedings against Trump’s measures.
