Trump Proposes 90-Day Limit On Visas For Chinese Journalists

The Trump administration is proposing strict new visa limits for Chinese journalists in the US as part of a broader push to curtail stays by foreign students and reporters, in a move that prompted pushback from Beijing.

The new rule, spelled out in a Department of Homeland Security proposal released this week, would limit journalist visas for mainland Chinese citizens to 90 days, with the possibility to extend. Journalists from other countries would face a 240-day limit, scrapping the current policy that allows them to stay as long as their assignment lasts.

The 90-day limit would revive restrictions President Donald Trump sought at the end of his first term, which former President Joe Biden scrapped before they became law. The proposal will face a 30-day public comment period.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said the country opposed "discriminatory practices taken by the US against specific countries." 

US officials, meanwhile, have long argued that they allow far more Chinese reporters into the US than the Chinese government allows American journalists. In his first term, Trump had also ordered Chinese state-owned news outlets to cut the size of their US-based staff in response to Beijing's restrictions on American journalists.

The DHS memo spells out fresh restrictions for students and exchange visitors, limiting their stays to a maximum of four years. According to the proposal, allowing students to stay in the US without firm limits "has created incentives for fraud and abuse."

"For too long, past Administrations have allowed foreign students and other visa holders to remain in the US virtually indefinitely, posing safety risks, costing untold amount of taxpayer dollars, and disadvantaging US citizens," DHS said in a statement.

The proposal fits into Trump's broader immigration crackdown, which has seen the administration step up visa revocations, ban citizens from several countries from entering the US and expel thousands of undocumented migrants.

China has been a focus, though the administration has offered conflicting messages on its approach. Earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US would start "aggressively" revoking visas for Chinese students over links to the ruling Communist Party or if they were in critical fields. But earlier this week, Trump said that the US would allow 600,000 Chinese students into the country, adding that "it's very important." 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)