CHINA on Monday accused the United States of ‘monitoring, harassing and wilfully detaining’ Chinese students and researchers in the US. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s comments follow the denial of a bail request in California for a university researcher accused of lying about her ties to China’s military and Communist Party to gain access to the United States.
The United States claims to be very liberal when it comes to respecting human rights is concerned but it has long been observed that the claim is hollow as far as students and nationals of some particular countries are concerned. The US considers China as real rival both on economic and military fronts and is, therefore, employing different tactics in a bid to scuttling its march on the road to progress and prosperity. It has routinely been levelling baseless accusations against Chinese nationals of their involvement in attempts to steal intellectual property. Discrimination against Chinese students was highlighted in an open letter to the US Government by associations of Chinese students in the US universities pointing out that it has been extremely difficult for Chinese students studying in the US, especially PhD students and students majoring in science and engineering, to obtain a visa since 2018. The US is employing delaying tactics for issuance of visa putting educational career of students at risk. This is despite the fact that over 369,000 Chinese students who took admission in US institutions during 2018-19 alone are a major source of income for American universities. Pakistan understand woes of Chinese students as the country also faced worst types of curbs imposed by the US Government as part of measures to penalize Pakistan for pursuing its nuclear programme. A country, claiming to be champion of human rights, denied admission even in the discipline of Physics to Pakistani students fearing that their studies might strengthen the country’s search for nuclear technology. Such tactics did not work then and are unlikely to produce any worthwhile result and therefore, the policy of discrimination needs to be reversed.
