Beijing on Thursday reacted to the US decision to cancel visas for more than a thousand Chinese students and researchers in the United States, which the US government considered a security threat or had ties to China’s military.
There was a bias behind the visa decision, said Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry.
According to the state-owned Global Times, he said in a news briefing on Thursday that the move was “complete political oppression and racial discrimination, which is a serious violation of the human rights of Chinese students.”
Beijing also warned that it reserved the right to take further action, but did not elaborate.
Chad Wolf, acting head of the Department of Homeland Security, while announcing the visa on Wednesday, accused China of abusing student visas to exploit American educational education, and said China was trying to steal coronavirus research.
In July, the Justice Department announced the indictment of two Chinese nationals – both Chinese nationals – for hacking governments, dissidents and private companies involved in COVID-19 vaccine research. The indictment alleges that the hackers operated both for their own benefit and for China’s main intelligence service, the State Security Ministry.
China has denied the allegations.
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A State Department spokesman told Reuters the visa process was being carried out under an announcement made by President Donald Trump on May 29 in response to China’s curb on Hong Kong’s autonomy.
The declaration, which came into effect on June 1, targets approximately 3,000 to 5,000 individuals affiliated with Chinese universities or institutions that are affiliated with the U.S. Accordingly, the Chinese try to acquire foreign technology to benefit the military.
Chinese students Has the largest share of international students in the world, with about 1,000,000 Americans attending schools, and about billion 1 billion in revenue for colleges – although the Kovid-1p epidemic has severely hampered returns to campus. .
Sino-US relations between the world’s two largest economies have reached new lows in recent months over trade and human rights issues with Hong Kong and coronavirus.
Trump, who has expressed friendly relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping, has blamed China, a key part of his campaign to run for re-election on November 3, for being “soft” on his opponent, Joe Biden. Beijing.
In the latest sign of sourcing relations, China’s state-owned People’s Daily newspaper on Wednesday refused to write an opinion by the US ambassador to China, saying the article did not meet its standards.
Reuters contributed to this report.
