China-US relations: 300 foreign exchange students ‘interrogated’ as they left America, Beijing says

Airport officials ‘arbitrarily examined and even seized’ the students’ phones, laptops and other personal belongings, foreign ministry says

‘Chinese students, coming here to learn rather than to steal, are always welcome,’ Donald Trump’s national security adviser Robert O’Brien says in article published on Tuesday

Reading Time:2 minutes

China’s foreign ministry says hundreds of foreign exchange students faced harassment as they were leaving the US. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:00pm, 22 Oct 2020Updated: 10:04pm, 22 Oct 2020

Hundreds of Chinese foreign exchange students were subjected to harassment and interrogation at American airports as they were leaving the country this summer, Beijing said on Wednesday.

“For some time the United States has been using judicial power to wantonly harass and interrogate Chinese students, and even arrest and prosecute them under false allegations,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a press conference.

Between May and September, nearly 300 students “experienced harassment and interrogation”, he said.

Several of them had their “cell phones, laptops and other personal belongings were arbitrarily examined and even seized”.

The official did not give details of any specific cases or say how the figure had been calculated, but the allegation comes amid a slump in relations between Beijing and Washington that has led to Chinese students visiting and working in America coming under much tighter scrutiny.