China urges US to stop 'harassing' Chinese students
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China's Public Security Minister urges the United States to "ensure that Chinese citizens enjoy fair entry treatment and full dignity."
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The American and Chinese flags wave at Genting Snow Park ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 2, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)
China's Public Security Minister urged the US Homeland Security Secretary to stop the "harassment" of Chinese students entering the United States in a meeting between the two in Vienna, Beijing's state media reported Monday.
In a readout of talks Sunday between Wang Xiaohong and Alejandro Mayorkas, Beijing urged Washington "to stop harassing and checking Chinese students for no apparent reason," state news agency Xinhua said.
Beijing has repeatedly mentioned that Chinese nationals with valid travel documents have been subject to aggressive interrogations and deportations at US airports, with its embassy in Washington last month urging Chinese travelers to avoid the capital's Dulles airport.
In his meeting with Mayorkas, Wang urged the United States to "ensure that Chinese citizens enjoy fair entry treatment and full dignity," according to Xinhua.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday urged the US during talks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Munich to "stop unwarranted harassment and interrogation of Chinese citizens and to promote activities that enhance mutual understanding between the two peoples."
On Sunday, China's Public Security Minister also called on Mayorkas to "rectify" the US decision to place China on a list of major countries transiting or producing narcotics.
US officials have long alleged that China is complicit in the trade of fentanyl, which is many times more powerful than heroin and is responsible for more than 70,000 overdose deaths a year in the United States.
Last month in Beijing, US and Chinese officials agreed to cooperate to curb the production of ingredients to make fentanyl, known as precursor chemicals.
A US readout of Sunday's talks said Wang and Mayorkas had held "candid and constructive discussion on the steps needed to combat the spread of precursor chemicals."
"The two sides also made commitments with respect to continued law enforcement cooperation, technical bilateral exchanges between scientists and other experts, scheduling of precursor chemicals, and furthering multilateral cooperation," it said.
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