Chinese student held over two days in US then deported, says China’s embassy in Washington

Chinese envoy in US calls for better cooperation while at home China’s foreign minister says new Aukus pact ‘might lead to the resurgence of a cold war’
Qin Gang invites American athletes to China next year for ‘a rendezvous on ice and snow’ despite calls for a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics

US-China relations

Rachel Zhangin Shanghai

Published: 2:13pm, 29 Sep 2021

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The Chinese embassy in Washington has protested to the US over the deportation of a Chinese student, accusing law enforcement officers of “wantonly” interrogating him.

The embassy said a Chinese student had been interrogated for more than two days and deported by US law enforcement at Houston Airport.

“After being confined in a small room for more than 50 hours without proper food and rest, he was deported by the US side through a third country on trumped-up grounds. The US action seriously infringed upon the legitimate rights and interests of the student, and caused serious physical and mental damage to him and his family,” the embassy said.

“The Chinese side deplores and firmly opposes this action, and has lodged solemn representation with the US side.”

Many Chinese students started to head back to the US as Covid-19 restrictions eased. Since August 1, Chinese students have no longer needed to quarantine in a third country for two weeks before entering the US.

“For a period of time, the US has been obstructing educational, cultural and people-to-people exchanges with China. There have been a number of similar cases of arbitrary and harsh interrogation, and even deportation of Chinese students by the US law enforcement, who … seriously violated the students’ human rights,” the embassy said.

Last September, the US Department of Homeland Security revoked the visas of more than 1,000 Chinese students and researchers it said had “ties to China’s military fusion strategy”, in order to prevent possible espionage.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying urged the US to immediately stop using the excuse of national security to infringe on Chinese citizens’ rights and interests at a press conference on Wednesday.

“As far as we know, during these interrogations, the US side even repeatedly questioned whether the students were Communist Party members and whether they served the Chinese government, forcibly adding an ideological colour and linking humanities and academic exchanges with politics. Sometimes they even admitted afterwards that they did not have enough evidence to support repatriation, which means that the US’ moves were typical political persecution and manipulation, and were artificially creating opposition and confrontation.”

Chinese students head back to US as entry limits ease

The embassy’s protest came after ambassador Qin Gang called on Tuesday for an accelerated joint effort to push bilateral relations back on the “right track” as soon as possible, reinforcing the call for unity with an invitation to US athletes to take part in the Beijing Winter Olympics.

During an online reception hosted by the embassy late on Tuesday to mark the 72nd anniversary of the People’s Republic, Qin repeated the words of Chinese President Xi Jinping who told US President Joe Biden in a phone call this month that getting the China-US relationship right was not optional, but something “we must do and must do well”.

“China will follow the spirit of the two presidents’ call and work with the US side on the basis of respecting each other’s core concerns and properly managing differences, advance coordination and cooperation bilaterally and on major international and regional issues, such as climate change, Covid-19 and economic recovery, so as to bring China-US relations back to the right track of stable development as soon as possible,” Qin said, according to an embassy statement.

Qin said that whether China and the US chose peaceful coexistence or confrontation not only concerned the well-being of the peoples of those two countries, but also the future of the world.

“The Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games will open in four months’ time. I sincerely invite American athletes to join us in Beijing next year for a rendezvous on ice and snow. I wish Chinese and American athletes the best of luck in the Games!”

Some US lawmakers had previously called for a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, urging the International Olympic Committee to postpone the event and relocate it because of alleged human rights abuses in predominantly Muslim Xinjiang province and the crackdown in Hong Kong.

In July, the European Parliament also passed a nonbinding resolution to support a boycott of the Games.

The release of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou last week after nearly three years of house arrest has resolved one of the most contentious issues between China and the US. But the main theme in the relationship remains confrontational.

US-China relations: what comes next after release of Huawei’s Meng?

On Wednesday Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed concerns over the US’ new security partnership with Britain and Australia, the Aukus pact, which will help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines. The new military alliance is widely considered to be aimed at China.

Wang said that this would aggravate regional geopolitical tension and might lead to the resurgence of a cold war.

“At a time when the international community is generally opposed to the cold war and division, the US blatantly violates such policy and rallies an Anglo-Saxon ‘small circle’, putting its own geopolitical interests above the international unity, which is a typical cold war mentality,” the ministry quoted Wang as saying.

Additional reporting by Jun Mai