US Restricts Visas for Communist Party and Their Family Members

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The Trump administration on Wednesday issued new rules to curtail travel to the United States by members of the Chinese Communist Party and their immediate families, a move certain to further exacerbate tensions between the two countries.

The new policy, which took immediate effect, limits the maximum validity of travel visas for party members and their families to one month and a single entry, according to two people familiar with the matter. A State Department spokesman said in an emailed statement it was reducing the validity of visas for party members from 10 years to one month.

Previously, party members, like other Chinese citizens, could obtain visitor visas for the United States of up to 10 years in duration. The new measures do not affect party members’ eligibility for other kinds of visas, such as immigration, one of the people added.

In principle, the policy change could affect the travel of roughly 270 million people — China has about 92 million Communist Party members — though in practice, it might be difficult to determine who, apart from high-level officials, belongs to the party. The new visa rules add to the now yearslong conflict between the two countries on trade, technology and much else.

According to the people familiar with the rules, the new guidelines allow American officials to make a determination about someone’s party status based on their visa application and interview, as well as officials’ local understanding of Communist Party membership.

That could mean that the policy disproportionately hits China’s top government and business leaders rather than the millions of lower-level members who join the party to get a leg up in areas as varied as business and the arts.

A spokesman for the State Department said the move was a part of “ongoing policy, regulatory, and law-enforcement action across the U.S. government to protect our nation from the C.C.P.’s malign influence.”

“For decades we allowed the C.C.P. free and unfettered access to U.S. institutions and businesses while these same privileges were never extended freely to U.S. citizens in China,” he added in an emailed statement.

The same day, the US government announced a ban on cotton and cotton products from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, citing alleged use of forced labor. A "much broader" import ban, targeting all cotton and tomato products from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, is reportedly being studied.

Also on Wednesday, US government sources disclosed more than 1,000 Chinese researchers have left the US as a result of the ongoing crackdown on so-called technology theft.

Although everyone seems to be ready for China-US relations to worsen each passing day for the remainder of the current administration's term, such developments are worrisome signs that bilateral ties are being effectively shifted onto a dangerous path. The China hawks in the current administration are doing what they can to cement in place their tough China policy, which has already significantly hurt bilateral ties.

Even if the incoming administration has any intention to ease the tensions that have been sown, and continue being sown, some damage is simply beyond repair, as the sitting US president intends.

While many cherish the innocent hope the next administration may demonstrate reason and pragmatism, it would be harboring an illusion to believe that the new administration will instantaneously reset the relationship. The US president-elect has made it clear that he will not immediately lift the tariffs imposed on Chinese goods.

The sequence of priorities for the new US administration may differ from that of the incumbent. As may its approach. But that in no way warrants the kind of optimism some have displayed. Not only has the US president-elect indicated he wants to rally the US against what he sees as a less than friendly China, but the recent deterioration in bilateral ties has fundamentally changed the political atmosphere for the China policies of the US. So much so that containing China has become a bipartisan consensus.

Source: The New York Times; Chinadaily;

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/vhcjoPPLRam4k7WdsPAYTg

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