China urges US to ‘stop harassing’ its students at the border ‘for no reason’

Call from Wang Xiahong, China’s public security minister, comes during talks with US homeland security chief in Vienna on drug control cooperation

US must ensure ‘fair entry treatment and full dignity’ for Chinese citizens, Wang tells Alejandro Mayorkas in talks labelled as ‘constructive’


Cyril Ip
19 Feb, 2024
SCMP

China has asked the United States to end the “unwarranted harassment” of its students, following renewed reports of interrogation and deportation at a key US airport.
The call from Wang Xiaohong, China’s public security minister, came during a meeting with his US counterpart Alejandro Mayorkas in Vienna on drug control and related law enforcement cooperation. Both sides described Sunday’s talks as “candid” and “constructive”.

According to state news agency Xinhua, Wang urged the US “to stop harassing and interrogating Chinese students for no reason, and ensure that Chinese citizens enjoy fair entry treatment and full dignity”.

He also said Washington should “lift visa restrictions on relevant Chinese institutions and personnel”, Xinhua reported.

Wang’s statement came some three weeks after China lodged a formal protest against the US for allegedly blocking Chinese students at the border.

The meeting with Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas was part of renewed bilateral engagement following an ice-breaking summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden in San Francisco in November.

Xinhua reported earlier this month that at least 11 Chinese students had been deported or had their visas cancelled on arrival since that summit.

Eight of those cases took place at Washington Dulles International Airport, with some students detained for more than 10 hours and barred from contacting anyone during that time, according to a statement from the Chinese embassy.

Washington should “take practical and effective measures to ensure the safety of Chinese diplomatic and consular institutions and personnel in the US”, Wang told Mayorkas.
In January, the Chinese foreign ministry said that “tens” of Chinese nationals were being denied entry to the US each month.

This included Chinese students with valid papers, who had been subjected to “politically motivated” law enforcement, involving “abusive suppression and persecution, frequent interrogations, detentions, forced confessions, inducements and even deportations”, a ministry spokesman said.

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Wang’s remarks on the treatment received by Chinese nationals at US borders were not mentioned in the Department of Homeland Security’s readout of the meeting, which focused on cooperation with Beijing in the fight against the fentanyl crisis.

Fentanyl is a highly addictive synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin, and killed some 70,000 Americans last year. Washington alleges that China is the main source of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked into the US – a claim denied by Beijing.

During Sunday’s talks in the Austrian capital, Wang urged the US to correct its “erroneous approach” of placing China on a list of major “drug source” countries or transit points, saying he hoped that obstacles to cooperation on narcotics control and law enforcement would be removed.

US, China join forces to counter global fentanyl trade

Wang and Mayorkas also met virtually in early January, shortly before the launch of a bilateral counternarcotics working group. The group aims to counter the “global manufacturing and trafficking of illicit synthetic drugs, including fentanyl”, the White House said on January 30.

The body’s creation was another sign of thawing diplomatic ties after Xi and Biden agreed to dial back tensions at their summit three months ago.

The US statement on the latest Wang-Mayorkas meeting said the two sides discussed “the steps needed to combat the spread of precursor chemicals and the transnational criminal organisations that profit off the production, distribution, and sale of illicit synthetic drugs”, as well as cooperating in the “fight to protect children from online sexual exploitation and abuse”.