US revokes visas of 1,000 Chinese nationals, citing national security risks

Trump has made getting tough on China a key part of his campaign

CHINA-USA/DEFENCE Representational image | Reuters

The US Department of Homeland Security, citing national security risks, has revoked visas of 1,000 Chinese nationals. The action came after a May 29 proclamation to suspend entry to students and researchers from China who are deemed to be security risks. The proclamation was part of a response to China’s curbs on democracy in Hong Kong.

The acting head of the US Department of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, was quoted by Reuters as saying that Washington was blocking visas “for certain Chinese graduate students and researchers with ties to China's military fusion strategy to prevent them from stealing and otherwise appropriating sensitive research”.

Wolf talked of unjust business practices, and espionage charges against China raised by the US, including attempts to steal coronavirus research, and accused it of abusing student visas to exploit American academia.

In July, four Chinese researchers were arrested for hiding their association with China's People's Liberation Army—all four were charged with visa fraud. Following this, China's consulate in Houston was shut on the order of US authorities after Washington accused Chinese agents of trying to steal information from research into medicine and other fields in Texas.

Wolf, in a reference to Muslims being mistreated in China’s Xinjiang region, said the US was also “preventing goods produced from slave labour from entering our markets, demanding that China respect the inherent dignity of each human being”.

China-US relations have been under strain ever since they have been in a trade standoff in 2018. The US accused China of not being transparent on origins of the coronavirus. Other charges the US has levelled against China include mistreatment of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region, the nation’s claims over the South China Sea and China passing the National Security Law in Hong Kong, undermining its semi-autonomous status.

US President Donald Trump, who had sought to make good on promises to rebalance a massive trade deficit and touted good relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping, has made getting tough on China a key part of his campaign for the upcoming elections on November 3. He has accused his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, who leads in national opinion polls, of being soft toward Beijing.

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