The United States denied on Monday that it had adopted a get-tough policy on visas for Chinese citizens and was rejecting a record number of applicants.
According to a New York Times report on Monday, record numbers of Chinese are applying to come to the United States and record numbers are being turned down, including those with scholarships to attend prestigious universities.
However, US State Department spokesman Philip Reeker denied there had been a change of policy regarding Chinese, who make up the largest proportion of foreign students at US universities.
Contrary to the report, "there has been absolutely no change in procedures or policies as regard to Chinese student visa applicants," he told a press briefing in Washington.
"Raw numbers of both Chinese visa applicants and student visas issued to Chinese citizens are in fact increasing. And the refusal rate to Chinese student visa applicants actually dropped significantly over the past two fiscal years."
He said that in fiscal year 2000, 21,586 student visas were issued to Chinese citizens, an increase of 33 percent over the 16,303 student visas issued to Chinese citizens in the previous year. Reeker said that preliminary figures for 2001 indicate another increase.
(chinadaily.com.cn 09/11/2001)
