The visa revocations will include students with connections to the Chinese Communist Party and those studying in critical fields, Rubio said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on May 28 that the United States would begin revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“The U.S. will begin revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” Rubio wrote on social media platform X.
The State Department confirmed the action in a short statement, saying that it will work with the Department of Homeland Security to “aggressively revoke” the visas. It will also revise the visa criteria and “enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications” from China and Hong Kong.
The Epoch Times reached out to the State Department for further comment on the matter.
According to the State Department, the Chinese regime monitors Chinese students, mobilizing them through the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA). Some CSSA branches in the United States have openly admitted that they are directed, supported, or financed by Chinese consulates. These students have been known to attempt forced cancellation of events or speeches hosted by overseas dissident groups at U.S. schools.
The FBI warns on its website that the CCP uses its post-graduate students and post-doctorate researchers in fields such as engineering, science, and mathematics to “operate as non-traditional collectors of intellectual property.”
“China is the world’s principal infringer of intellectual property,” the FBI states. “The annual cost to the U.S. economy of counterfeit goods, pirated software, and theft of trade secrets is between $225 billion and $600 billion.”
Rubio’s announcement comes two months after House Republicans raised the issue of Chinese student visas on March 14.
Introduced, in part, by Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.), the “Stop Chinese Communist Prying by Vindicating Intellectual Safeguards in Academia Act of 2025,” or “Stop CCP VISAs Act of 2025,” would ban Chinese citizens from obtaining student visas, citing CCP-related national security concerns.
“Every year we allow nearly 300,000 Chinese nationals to come to the U.S. on student visas. We’ve literally invited the CCP to spy on our military, steal our intellectual property, and threaten national security,” Moore said in a statement to The Epoch Times.
The bill was co-sponsored by Reps. Brandon Gill (R-Texas), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Addison McDowell (R-N.C.), Andrew Ogles (R-Tenn.), Troy Nehls (R-Texas), Burgess Owens (R-Utah), and Mary Miller (R-Ill.)
“The Chinese Communist Party is fundamentally opposed to our American values, and yet we have handed out hundreds of thousands of student visas to Chinese nationals, many of whom are state-sponsored spies,” Gill said in a statement to The Epoch Times.
By T.J. Muscaro
