China tells U.S. to stop suppressing Chinese students

BEIJING, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wednesday urged the United States to stop harassing and suppressing Chinese students and visiting scholars, so as to create a sound atmosphere for bilateral cultural exchanges and educational cooperation.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily press briefing in response to a query about the recent repatriation of Chinese students and visiting scholars by the United States.

Wang Wenbin said there have been frequent incidents of harassment and suppression of Chinese students and visiting scholars to the United States, adding that some days ago a visiting Chinese scholar with a visa issued by the U.S. government was repatriated after being interrogated while entering the country.

According to incomplete statistics, since August this year, nearly 30 Chinese students and visiting scholars to the United States have suffered such unfair treatment, and many people have been harassed and questioned by the United States in a rough way, Wang said.

"Most of the above-mentioned people were asked whether they or their parents were members of the Communist Party, or if they had been assigned tasks by the Chinese government before going to the country," he said, adding that some of them were repatriated for unbelievable reasons, such as being suspected of having military background because photos of college military training were found in their mobile phones. "These interrogations have gone far beyond the ambit of normal law enforcement claimed by the United States."

Wang said that the United States claimed to welcome Chinese students on the one hand, and inherited the poisonous legacy of the previous administration on the other.

Some law enforcement departments and personnel in the United States continue to generalize the concept of national security and harass Chinese students and scholars, he said, pointing out that these moves run counter to the mutually beneficial and win-win nature of cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two sides, seriously hurt the feelings of the people on both sides, and affect mutual trust and cooperation between the two countries.

"We urge the U.S. side to stop such practices that harm others without benefiting itself and create a sound atmosphere and necessary conditions for China-U.S. cultural and educational exchanges and cooperation. We will firmly safeguard the rights and interests of Chinese personnel pursuing studies in the United States," Wang said.