#US revokes visas of over 1,000 Chinese nationals citing military ties

The US has revoked the visas of over 1,000 Chinese nationals, citing concerns about students and researchers having ties to the Chinese military, a State Department official confirmed to The Post.

The effort came as part of a May 29 proclamation by President Trump to restrict the entry of some Chinese nationals into the US which was implemented on June 1.

The proclamation stated that China had been “engaged in a wide‑ranging and heavily resourced campaign to acquire sensitive United States technologies and intellectual property, in part to bolster the modernization and capability of its military, the People’s Liberation Army.”

The State Department official told The Post that the proclamation was put in place to safeguard US national security by limiting Beijing’s ability to steal American intellectual property and other information to develop their military capabilities through these students and researchers.

These “high-risk” individuals, according to the department, only represent a small number of the total Chinese population that is coming to the United States.

“We continue to welcome legitimate students and scholars from China who do not further the Chinese Communist Party’s goals of military dominance,” the department said in a statement.

The move comes as relations between the US and China continue to plunge to new lows.

US-China relations tanked this year over Chinese concealment of early COVID-19 data and over the central government’s elimination of political autonomy in Hong Kong and human rights abuses against the Uighur minority.

As tensions continue to mount between the two nations, the US has also cracked down on other Chinese entities on American soil, such as the Chinese government-backed Confucius Institutes.

In mid-August, the State Department announced that the institutes would be required to register their US headquarters as a foreign mission.

The organization operates 550 Chinese “culture and language programs” in colleges and universities, including 75 in the US. Last year, a Senate Intelligence subcommittee decried the institutes given that their funding comes “with strings that can compromise academic freedom.”

The Trump administration’s efforts regarding China come as the communist nation continues their focus on military and economic expansion.

According to the annual Defense Department report to Congress published Tuesday, there is much to be concerned about on the military front.

“Over the next decade, China will expand and diversify its nuclear forces, likely at least doubling its nuclear warhead stockpile,” the report reads, “China’s nuclear forces appear to be on a trajectory to exceed the size of a ‘minimum deterrent’ as described in the PLA’s own writings.”

With Post wires