U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on the 28th (local time) that he will cancel the visas of Chinese students.
According to Reuters, Minister Rubio stated in a statement that "the State Department will actively cancel the visas of Chinese students who are related to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in key fields in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)."
He added that the State Department will also revise visa criteria to strengthen the review of all visa applications coming from China and Hong Kong.
According to data from the Institute of International Education (IIE), the number of Chinese students in the U.S. for the 2023-2024 academic year is approximately 277,000 (24.6%), making it the second largest after India (29.4%).
The U.S. State Department instructed the temporary suspension of new U.S. visa interview scheduling at foreign U.S. consulates in preparation for expanded social media (SNS) review and verification of students and researchers seeking to study in the U.S.