New Delhi: The Trump administration will work to “aggressively revoke” visas of Chinese students with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CPP) or those studying in “critical fields”, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday.
Rubio added that the US will “revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong”.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, the US State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” Rubio said in a statement.
He, however, didn’t specify which disciplines came under “critical fields”.
The action against Chinese students comes amid the Trump administration’s wider crackdown on elite universities and international students, coinciding with rising tensions between the US and China in the wake of a trade war.
The move also comes after the introduction of stricter visa requirements for international students and a day after reports that the US administration was “pausing” scheduling new interviews for student visa applicants for international students.
After Indians, Chinese students are the second-largest group of international students in the US. The US has roughly 275,000 Chinese students.
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Attractive offers luring scientists back to China
According to The New York Times, though Rubio’s brief statement did not mention which “critical fields” would fall under scrutiny, it most likely refers to research in the physical sciences.
That is because, in recent years, American officials have reportedly expressed concerns about the Chinese government recruiting US-trained scientists, though these claims remain unverified.
Moreover, Beijing has launched targeted recruitment drives to attract Chinese-born scientists considering leaving the US, according to the South China Morning Post.
These efforts come amid tightening research budgets and a more restrictive academic climate under the second Trump administration.
A senior Beijing-based geologist told the outlet that China is offering “very attractive” postdoctoral positions, with some packages nearing $100,000 annually for three years, matching assistant professor salaries and far surpassing standard postdoc pay in both China and the US.
It remains uncertain how swiftly the State Department and Homeland Security will act to revoke student visas, or whether China will retaliate by targeting the smaller group of American students in the country, potentially expelling some.
Once common for children of CCP elites, including Xi Jinping’s daughter, to attend top US universities, the Trump administration began restricting access, revoking over 1,000 visas in 2020 for students linked to Chinese military institutions, a policy the Biden administration upheld, the NYT report said.
Despite ongoing tensions, Xi in 2023 proposed sending 50,000 American students to China to boost educational ties. Still, anti-China rhetoric in the US has intensified.
Rubio recently also announced visa bans on foreign officials, who censor Americans and pushed to halt student visa interviews.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security attempted to decertify Harvard’s ability to host foreign students, citing alleged ties to the CCP, although such claims are not supported by public evidence.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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