Trump administration will ‘aggressively revoke’ Chinese student visas in major escalation with Beijing

By Jennifer Hansler, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn and Nectar Gan, CNN

(CNN) — The United States will “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday in a major escalation of tensions with Beijing, and another blow to American higher education institutions.

The top US diplomat said the State Department would work with the Department of Homeland Security on the revocations, which will target 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.

The surprise announcement risks disrupting ongoing efforts by the US and China to de-escalate tensions, coming just weeks after both sides declared a 90-day truce over punishing tariffs on each other’s goods, and deepens the spiraling confrontation between President Donald Trump and the nation’s top universities.

Rubio’s comments follow a series of extraordinary steps by the Trump administration to deter foreign students from studying in the US – from ordering embassies to pause new student visa appointments to revoking Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students. (A federal judge later halted the Harvard ban.)

The latest move is set to spark consternation and outrage in China, the country of origin for almost a quarter of international students in US higher education. It’s also likely to deepen anxiety across American universities, which rely on Chinese and other international students as a significant source of revenue.

There are signs that Beijing has been caught off guard by the announcement. Hours after Rubio’s statement, China’s state-controlled media have yet to report on the news that will significantly impact the fate of hundreds of thousands of Chinese students.

Beijing has also yet to make an official comment.

A pipeline of talent

For decades, American universities have attracted some of China’s brightest minds. Seen as a path to a prestigious education and better career opportunities, US colleges have drawn Chinese students from middle-class families as well as the political and business elites. Many Chinese officials have sent their children to American schools, including leader Xi Jinping, whose daughter Xi Mingze studied at Harvard under a pseudonym.

Student exchanges have been a key constant in the ebb and flow of US-China relations — ties that are increasingly defined by growing geopolitical rivalry that has fueled an ongoing trade and tech war.

China was the top source of international students in the US for 15 straight years until it was surpassed by India just last year, according to figures from Open Doors, a State Department-backed database tracking international student enrollment.

After decades of growth, the number of Chinese students in the US reached a peak of over 372,000 in the 2019-2020 school year, before declining to more than 270,000 in the 2023-2024 year – a drop that coincides with the Covid-19 pandemic but also increasing friction between the two governments.

On Tuesday the US State Department instructed American embassies and consulates worldwide to pause new student visa appointments as it moves to expand “social media screening and vetting” to all applicants of student visas.

The following day a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry said the country is following the development, and urged the US to “protect the lawful and legitimate rights and interests of all international students, including those from China.”

China’s Communist Party has long maintained one of the world’s strongest censorship regimes. Under leader Xi, the party has grown ever more focused on ideological and cultural control.

Rubio’s statement did not specify what are the “critical fields,” but there has been long-standing concern in Washington about Chinese academics accessing sensitive and military-applicable American technology.

To crack down on the perceived threat of Chinese students conducting espionage on US soil, Trump introduced a ban during his first term that effectively prevented graduates in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields from Chinese universities believed to be linked to the military from gaining visas to the US.

His first administration also launched the now defunct China Initiative, a national security program intended to thwart China’s intelligence activities in the US, including those aimed at stealing emerging technology from research universities.

The program, which drew comparisons to the anti-Communism “red scare” of the 1950s, was cancelled by the Biden administration after facing widespread blowback for what was seen as overreach and complaints that it fueled suspicion and bias against innocent Chinese Americans.

It’s also unclear how US officials will define students “with connections to the Chinese Communist Party” which is ubiquitous across China and boasts 99 million members. As a result, many Chinese students could have parents or relatives who are party members or work in the vast state-owned sector.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Simone McCarthy contributed to this report.

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