Beijing today expressed its strong opposition to the US plan to revoke visas for Chinese students and urged Washington to pursue a more constructive attitude toward stable bilateral relations, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said today.

China expressed its protest following the announcement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The US cited ideological and security reasons as “pretexts” for its decision, which affects the legitimate rights and interests of our students, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said during a regular press briefing.

U.S. diplomatic chief Marco Rubio announced yesterday (Wednesday) that Washington would “aggressively” revoke visas granted to students from China.

The State Department in President Donald Trump‘s administration will “work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke the visas of Chinese students,” particularly those “affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party” or “studying in critical fields,” Rubio said.

Over 277,000 Chinese students (s) were enrolled in US universities in the 2023-2024 academic year. The number was exclusively surpassed, for the first time in years, by students from India, according to a State Department-approved report by the Institute of International Education (IIE).