However, in a policy reversal ahead of his possible visit to China later this year, the US president told a cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday that he would welcome Chinese students, arguing that the American college system “would go to hell very quickly” without them, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
Trump’s U-turn on the issue comes amid the ongoing trade talks between Washington and Beijing, where the treatment of Chinese students has emerged as a negotiating issue.Reacting to Trump’s remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a media briefing here that Beijing “hope that the US will act on President Trump’s commitment to welcoming Chinese students… (and) stop groundlessly harassing, interrogating or repatriating them, and earnestly protect their legitimate and lawful rights and interests”.
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Currently, about 2.7 lakh Chinese students are enrolled in American institutions, the second largest group after Indians.
During the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump said the US is “getting along very well with China” and he is also “getting along very well” with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“I think it’s very insulting to say students can’t come here… You know what would happen if they didn’t? Our college system would go to hell very quickly,” he said.
Trump said he had conveyed to Xi directly that the US was “honoured” to educate Chinese students, while noting that security checks would continue.
“We check, we’re careful, and we see who’s there,” he added, referring to security screenings, while noting that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio supports oversight of student admissions.
On Monday, Trump told reporters in Washington that he would welcome six lakh Chinese students.
“I hear so many stories about we’re not going to allow their [Chinese] students… to come in. We’re going to allow their students to come in. It’s very important, 600,000 students,” he said.
On May 29, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that America will begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students, including those studying in “critical fields” and “those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party”.
On August 22, China had accused the US of discrimination after reports that Chinese students were being questioned, harassed or even deported on arrival.
Another Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, told the media last week that the US has been frequently carrying out discriminatory, politically-driven and selective law enforcement against Chinese students arriving in America.
Mao said some students went through unfair treatment and were taken into small separate rooms for extended interrogation.
Some students had faced prolonged interrogation, detention of over 70 hours, and even visa revocations on the grounds that they “might endanger national security”, the spokesperson had said.
In June, the US and China reached a ‘mini-deal’ under which Beijing agreed to resume rare-earth exports, and in return, Washington eased some tariffs and allowed Chinese students access to its universities.
