China’s foreign ministry condemned the Trump administration’s move to aggressively revoke visas that have been issued to Chinese students in the U.S. — reflecting the Chinese Communist Party’s concerns that the White House is eager to exert more pressure on Beijing in multiple areas.
Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning called the move “fully unjustified,” during her daily press briefing today in Beijing, and accused the administration of using “ideology and national security as pretext.”
“It seriously hurts the lawful rights and interests of international students from China, and disrupts people-to-people exchanges between the two countries,” Mao continued, according to the English language summary on the ministry’s website. “China firmly opposes it and has protested to the U.S. over the decision.”
Mao said: “This politically motivated and discriminatory move exposes the U.S. hypocrisy over freedom and openness. It will further damage the image and reputation of the U.S. itself.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled the move in a short Wednesday night statement that said his department would work with the Department of Homeland Security to revoke visas issued to Chinese students tied to the Chinese Communist Party and working in “critical fields.”
There were more than 277,000 Chinese nationals on student visas in the U.S. last year, a report commissioned by the State Department said.
The State Department is taking an expansive view of what it considers to be critical fields but is primarily targeting those covered by Beijing’s “Made in 2025” industrial development plan, a senior State Department official said. That covers 10 high-tech industries, including automation, biomedicine, and semiconductors.
The U.S. will also review future visa applications from China and Hong Kong, Rubio said in the statement.
It’s not clear how many students this decision will affect or how rapidly Rubio’s plan will be implemented. U.S. critics of the move are concerned that the review will sweep up Chinese students who do not support the Party and sap the U.S. of a source of skilled labor that boosts the tech industry.
The senior State Department official indicated that Foggy Bottom moved forward with the announcement as part of a broader effort by President Trump to rebalance the relationship with China away from Beijing’s exploitation of America’s openness.
Negotiators from each country planned to pursue further dialogue after a meeting in Geneva this month, during which they agreed to suspend tariffs that they had each imposed after Trump’s “Liberation Day” trade measures.
The Chinese Communist Party is particularly sensitive to U.S. policies that counter its longstanding efforts to steal proprietary technology and cutting-edge research from U.S. institutions.
Mao’s statement also suggests that Beijing views the Trump move as an effort to advance a broader ideological agenda against the Chinese regime.
That view was reflected in Party propaganda that targets American and Western audiences.
The Global Times, an English-language outlet of the CCP, quoted Wu Xinbo, the director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University as saying that the move is a “clear continuation – and escalation – of the Trump administration’s China pressure strategy” that also includes a curtailment of “people-to-people exchanges” and Beijing’s access to U.S. tech.
Wu and Chinese regime employees engaged in propaganda work targeting Westerners also tried to cast the Trump move as self-defeating.
“It will shoot itself in the feet by kicking talents from around the world out,” Li Jingjing, an staffer with China’s CGTN propaganda outlet wrote in a post to X.