A traveler waits at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in the Queens borough of New York, US, on Aug. 19, 2025. Photo: VCG

When asked to comment on reports that some Chinese students when entering the US were groundlessly interrogated, harassed, badly treated or even repatriated by US border control staff, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday that recently the US has frequently carried out discriminatory, politically-driven and selective law enforcement against Chinese students arriving in the US.

The students went through unfair treatment and were taken into small separate rooms for extended interrogation. Some were detained for more than 70 hours and repeatedly forced to answer questions that had nothing to do with their purpose of travel to the US. Some students' visas were even revoked and they were banned from entering the country after being told they "might endanger national security."

The US' moves severely violate the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese nationals, impede the flow of people between the two countries, and dampen China-US people-to-people exchanges. Every time such incidents occurred, China immediately protested to the US and urged the US to correct its wrongdoings, the spokesperson said. 

The Communist Party of China and Chinese government always put the people first, and China's diplomacy is people-centered. China would never allow any Chinese national traveling to the US to be unfairly treated anytime anywhere, Mao said. 

"We urge the US to face the issue squarely, take China's concerns seriously, act on the US leader's statement of welcoming Chinese students, and stop the groundless interrogations, harassment and repatriation against them. China will continue working hard to protect the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese nationals going to the US," said Mao.

With a Chinese expert calling Washington's harassment of Chinese students an unwarranted blow to normal cultural exchanges between the two countries, a recent US move also saw the State Department's continuous vetting applies to "all of the more than 55 million foreigners who currently hold valid US visas," including those who have already been admitted to enter the country. 

"The State Department revokes visas any time there are indications of a potential ineligibility, which includes things like any indicators of overstays, criminal activity, threats to public safety, engaging in any form of terrorist activity, or providing support to a terrorist organization," a department spokesperson said, according to The Guardian.

In a written answer to a question from The Associated Press, the State Department said all US visa holders, which can include tourists from many countries, are subject to "continuous vetting," with an eye toward any indication they could be ineligible for permission to enter or stay in the US.

US' actions would damage its own domestic academic atmosphere, and such vetting could also create a tense relationship between the US government and the academic community, Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday. 

However, the conditions of vetting are difficult to define, and that it appears to deliberately create confusion by conflating differences in ideology or criticism of the US government with criminal activity and even terrorism, Lü said.

The expert believed that the vetting could also generate a "chilling effect," discouraging people from speaking openly on social media.

The Guardian reported that the move follows an announcement by the Trump administration on Tuesday that it will look for "anti-American" views, including on social media, when assessing the applications of people wanting to live in the US.

On Monday, the State Department said it had revoked 6,000 student visas for overstays and violations of local, state and federal law since the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, took office in January. In the "vast majority" of the cases - approximately 4,000 visas were revoked because the holders "broke the law" in cases of assault, driving under the influence, burglary and "support for terrorism."

The expert further noted that many research laboratories rely on advanced students, particularly PhD candidates from China, adding that the move could put pressure on institutions by limiting their ability to recruit students whose views may not align with its positions, indirectly restricting scholars' freedom to invite students and creating a tense atmosphere within the academic community.