Chinese students are expressing anxiety after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the Trump administration would begin to “aggressively revoke visas” from scholars within the demographic.
This is a “new version of Chinese Exclusion Act,” Linqin, a Chinese student at Johns Hopkins, told The Associated Press. He asked the outlet to identify him only by first name out of fear of retaliation.
The 143-year-old law was used to issue an absolute 10-year ban on Chinese laborers immigrating to the U.S. and certain provisions within the law remained in place until 1943 — when U.S. officials capped the yearly limit of Chinese immigrants at 105.
Students studying abroad from Asia have voiced their concerns that similar confines will be put in place.
China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the U.S., behind only India. Last year, the group accounted for roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the U.S. as reported by the AP.
“The U.S. decision to revoke Chinese student visas is fully unjustified. It uses ideology and national security as pretext,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Thursday. “It seriously hurts the lawful rights and interests of international students from China and disrupts people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.”
“China firmly opposes it and has protested to the U.S. over the decision,” she added.
Beijing’s officials have called the move “politically motivated” and “discriminatory” while some of the country’s top institutions say the move could drive an increase in enrollment from domestic talent.
“Having fewer international exchanges is definitely not good for America’s development,” Zhang Qi, a postdoctoral fellow in Beijing told the AP.
“This could be a positive change for China’s development,” he continued. “More talented individuals may choose to stay at Tsinghua or Peking University, or with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other top institutions in China, which would benefit the development of domestic science and technology.”
In April, following President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement, Chinese leaders issued a travel advisory for citizens studying in the U.S.
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