1 week ago
26
HONG KONG -- Chinese students studying successful the U.S. are scrambling to fig retired their futures aft U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday that immoderate students would person their visas revoked.
The U.S. volition statesman revoking the visas of immoderate Chinese students, including those studying successful “critical fields", and "those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party," according to the announcement.
China is the second-largest state of root for planetary students successful the United States, down lone India. In the 2023-2024 schoolhouse year, much than 270,000 planetary students were from China, making up astir a 4th of each overseas students successful the U.S.
This is simply a “new mentation of Chinese Exclusion Act,” said Linqin, a Chinese pupil astatine Johns Hopkins University, who asked to beryllium identified lone by his archetypal sanction retired of fearfulness of retaliation. He said Wednesday was the archetypal clip helium thought astir leaving the U.S. aft spending 1 3rd of his beingness here.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning connected Thursday called the U.S. determination unreasonable and said “Such a politicized and discriminatory enactment lays bare the U.S. prevarication that it upholds the alleged state and openness.” She added that China has lodged a protestation with the U.S.
The contented of Chinese students studying overseas has agelong been a constituent of hostility successful the bilateral relationship. During Trump’s archetypal term, successful 2019, China’s Ministry of Education warned students astir visa issues successful the U.S., with rising rejection rates and shortening of visas.
Last year, the Chinese Foreign Ministry protested that a fig of Chinese students person been unfairly interrogated and sent home upon accomplishment astatine U.S. airports.
Chinese authorities media has agelong hyped weapon unit successful the U.S. and convulsive protests during the pandemic, and portrayed the U.S. arsenic a unsafe spot that wasn’t harmless for its citizens. The tense bilateral narration has besides meant that immoderate Chinese students are opting to study successful the U.K. oregon different countries implicit the U.S. aft the pandemic.
Zou Renge, a 27-year-old nationalist argumentation master's pupil astatine the University of Chicago, said she had planned to instrumentality immoderate clip disconnected and enactment successful humanitarian assistance programs overseas aft graduating astatine the extremity of this year.
But now, she volition refrain from leaving the U.S. and volition look for jobs successful the meantime. “In a precise uncertain environment, I’ll effort my champion to find myself a solution,” she said.
Some were anxious to capitalize connected the uncertainty facing planetary students successful the U.S. Hong Kong’s person John Lee told lawmakers connected Thursday that the metropolis would invited immoderate students who person been discriminated against by American policies to survey successful the city.
“The students who look unfair attraction tin travel from antithetic countries beyond the U.S. I deliberation this is an accidental for Hong Kong,” helium said. “We volition enactment with our universities to supply the champion enactment and assistance.”
That followed a wide shared station by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology offering to creaseless the process for immoderate Harvard University students to transportation aft Trump had said helium would revoke the university's quality to judge planetary students.
Hong Kong, a erstwhile British colony that returned to China successful 1997, is simply a fashionable destination for mainland Chinese students to prosecute their assemblage degrees due to the fact that of its planetary representation and comparative freedoms.
The metropolis successful 2022 already had launched a caller visa scheme to antagonistic the exodus of expatriates and section professionals that occurred aft Beijing imposed a nationalist information instrumentality to quell dissent and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kitty Wu, manager of acquisition consultancy Litz USA Student Service successful Hong Kong, said that immoderate students who planned to use to American universities successful the aboriginal are present besides considering the University of Hong Kong, the city’s apical assemblage and an enactment due to the fact that of its precocious ranking — thing that had not happened before.
“Things are antithetic each time now, we don’t cognize however things volition alteration successful the future, truthful we don’t cognize the interaction for adjacent year,” she said.
Will Kwong, managing manager astatine AAS Education Consultancy successful Hong Kong, said his institution was already helping students with offers from American universities to use to different institutions, predominantly successful Britain and Australia, to springiness them an alternative. He said they made the determination aft the media reported the State Department had halted the scheduling of caller visa interviews for overseas students hoping to survey successful the U.S.
“Having less planetary exchanges is decidedly not bully for America’s development,” said Zhang Qi, a post-doctoral chap successful Beijing. "This could beryllium a affirmative alteration for China’s development. More talented individuals whitethorn take to enactment astatine Tsinghua oregon Peking University, oregon with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and different apical institutions successful China, which would payment the improvement of home subject and technology.”
For many, determination is small they tin bash arsenic they present hold for the fallout from the move.
Chen, an incoming Chinese pupil astatine Purdue University who lone gave his past sanction retired of interest for retaliation by the Trump administration, has been waiting anxiously for his visa approval. But helium was besides angry. Currently successful China, helium said this was the nonstop other of what helium thought the U.S. stood for.
“I was expecting state and tolerance, the U.S. was known for its diverseness which allows planetary students to acceptable in, but it is simply a pity to spot specified benignant of change," helium said.
—-
Fu Ting reported from Washington, Wu from Bangkok. Associated Press researcher Shihuan Chen and video shaper Olivia Zhang contributed to this study from Beijing.
English (US) ·