Beijing reacted in fury Thursday at the US government’s vow to revoke Chinese students’ visas, condemning President Donald Trump’s crackdown on international scholars as “political and discriminatory”.

Trump’s administration on Wednesday said it would “aggressively” remove permissions for Chinese students, one of the largest sources of revenue for American universities, in his latest broadside against US higher education.

The US will also revise visa criteria to tighten checks on all future applications from China and Hong Kong, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

Blasting the US for “unreasonably” cancelling Chinese students’ visas, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Beijing had lodged its opposition with Washington.

Rubio had upped the ante after China criticised his decision a day earlier to suspend visa appointments for students worldwide at least temporarily.

The Trump administration has already sought to end permission for all international students at Harvard University, which has rebuffed pressure from the president related to student protests.

Young Chinese people have long been crucial to US universities, which rely on international students paying full tuition.

China sent 277,398 students in the 2023-24 academic year, although India for the first time in years surpassed it, according to a State Department-backed report of the Institute of International Education.

Trump in his previous term also took aim at Chinese students but focused attention on those in sensitive fields or with explicit links with the military.

Global uncertainty

Beijing’s Mao on Wednesday said that China urged the United States to “safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of international students, including those from China.”

Rubio has already trumpeted the revocation of thousands of visas, largely to international students who were involved in activism critical of Israel.

A cable signed by Rubio on Tuesday ordered US embassies and consulates not to allow “any additional student or exchange visa… appointment capacity until further guidance is issued” on ramping up screening of applicants’ social media accounts.

On Wednesday, Rubio heaped pressure on China, saying Washington will “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.

“We will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong,” he said.

But the slew of measures also threaten to pressure students from countries friendly to the United States.

In Taiwan, a PhD student set to study in California complained of “feeling uncertain” by the visa pause.

“I understand the process may be delayed but there is still some time before the semester begins in mid-August,” said the 27-year-old student who did not want to be identified.

“All I can do now is wait and hope for the best.”

 Protests at Harvard

Trump is furious at Harvard for rejecting his administration’s push for oversight on admissions and hiring, amid the president’s claims the school is a hotbed of anti-Semitism and “woke” liberal ideology.

A judge paused the order to bar foreign students pending a hearing scheduled for Thursday, the same day as the university’s graduation ceremony for which thousands of students and their families had gathered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The White House has also stripped Harvard, as well as other US universities widely considered among the world’s most elite, of federal funding for research.

“The president is more interested in giving that taxpayer money to trade schools and programmes and state schools where they are promoting American values, but most importantly, educating the next generation based on skills that we need in our economy and our society,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News.

Some Harvard students were worried that the Trump administration’s policies would make US universities less attractive to international students.

“I don’t know if I’d pursue a PhD here. Six years is a long time,” said Jack, a history of medicine student from Britain who is graduating this week and gave only a first name.

Harvard has filed extensive legal challenges against Trump’s measures.

AFP