US clampdown on Chinese student visas will put America first, State Department says

Chinese students on the campus of Beijing Foreign Studies University in Beijing. AFP

The US State Department on Thursday said it is putting "America first" by starting to revoke the visas of thousands of Chinese students studying in America.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said he would "aggressively" cancel the visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or who are studying in critical fields.

China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the US, behind only India. In the 2023-2024 academic year, more than 270,000 international students were from China, making up about a quarter of all foreign students in the US.

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters that the new visa policies put "America first".

The US "will not tolerate the CCP's exploitation of US universities, or theft of US research, intellectual property or technologies to grow its military power, conduct intelligence collection or repress voices of opposition", she said.

The move to revoke student visas is just one push in a broader administration offensive against American universities. President Donald Trump is furious at academic institutions for what he sees as a liberal bias. His administration has also accused universities of fostering anti-Semitism by allowing pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses last year.

"Our focus is making sure that everyone who does want to send their child to a school in this country can do so knowing that they're going to be safe, they're going to be able to get into a building and not held hostage in a library because it's been occupied, or that they're going to be able to actually learn things," Ms Bruce said.

On Tuesday, the State Department issued a directive pausing interviews for foreign students looking to study in the US.

It is unclear how long the freeze will last, but a memo from the State Department said it was to allow for preparation to increase scrutiny of applicants' social media posts.

Young people in the Middle East have spoken of their fears after the freeze on overseas student interviews and plans to begin vetting their social media accounts was announced.