Beijing’s top diplomat in Washington on Wednesday warned against undermining of people-to-people relations just hours after the US government proposed a sweeping revamp of visa rules for foreign students, scholars and media citing national security risks.
Advertisement
“Going forward, we need to bring our people closer, rather than sow fear and hostility,” China’s ambassador to the US Xie Feng said during an event commemorating Chinese and American soldiers who fought together against Allied forces during World War II.
“We need to encourage and facilitate travels and people-to-people exchanges, rather than erect barriers,” Feng added.
“We need to promote win-win cooperation, make the list of cooperation longer … rather than seek decoupling and turn back the will of history.”
A new US Department of Homeland Security proposed rule on Wednesday sought to cap mainland Chinese journalists’ stays in the US at 90 days, with a 240-day limit for media from the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, and other countries. Visa holders may apply for extensions.
Advertisement
For all international students and scholars on F and J visas, the visa periods would be no longer than four years, the proposed rule said, adding that the significant increase in entries on F, J and I visas posed “a challenge to the department’s ability to monitor and oversee these non-immigrants while they are in the US”.