US toughens visa rules for ‘malign’ Chinese Communist Party members, reports NYT

Washington, December 3

US President Donald Trump’s administration has restricted journey to the United States by Chinese Communist Party members and their households, the New York Times newspaper reported on Thursday, a transfer China condemned as political oppression.

New guidelines issued on Wednesday restrict the validity of journey visas for social gathering members and households to at least one month and a single entry, the paper reported, citing folks acquainted with the matter.

Previously, social gathering members, like different Chinese residents, might receive the US customer visas of as much as 10 years’ period, it mentioned.

“This clearly is an escalated form of political oppression towards China by some extreme anti-China forces in the US who act out of intense ideological bias and a deep-rooted Cold War mentality,” Chinese international ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying responded at a information briefing on Thursday.

The NYT quoted a spokesman for the US State Department as saying the transfer was part of ongoing motion to guard the United States from the Chinese Communist Party’s “malign influence”.

The Department didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for remark.

The Trump administration has sought to cement the outgoing president’s tough-on-China legacy; relations between the world’s two largest economies have sunk to their lowest level in a long time.

Washington and Beijing have clashed over China’s dealing with of the coronavirus outbreak, its tightening grip on Hong Kong, its disputed claims within the South China Sea, commerce and accusations of human rights crimes in Xinjiang.

Last week, Reuters reported the United States was poised so as to add China’s high chipmaker SMIC and nationwide offshore oil and gasoline producer CNOOC to a blacklist of alleged Chinese navy firms, curbing their entry to the US buyers.

The new visa tips enable American officers to find out somebody’s social gathering standing based mostly on their utility and interview, the paper reported. Reuters