US rolls out visa restrictions for 'malign' Chinese Communist Party members: Report

In the latest move against China during the final days of US President Donald Trump’s administration, the country has restricted the travel of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members to the US. As per the New York Times report on December 3, the latest measure toughening visa rules has already been condemned by the Chinese government as political oppression. 

The rules issued on Wednesday called for limiting the validity of travel visas of the government representatives along with their families to just one month along with allowing single entry, reported the paper citing people familiar with the matter. The media outlet also quoted a spokesperson for the US State Department saying that the move was a part of the broader ongoing action taken by Washington to protect itself from CCP’s ‘malign influence’.
 
Prior to the newly-introduced restrictions, the CCP members similar to other Chinese citizens were allowed to obtain American visitor visas of up to 10 years’ of duration. Responding to the new rules by Trump administration, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a press briefing on December 3 that it is “clearly an escalated form of political oppression towards China”. She also said that such moves are caused by “extreme anti-China” forces in the United States with “deep-rooted Cold war mentality”.

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US to delist Chinese firms

Apart from visa restrictions for CCP members, US House of Representatives has passed a law that would delist Chinese companies off US stock exchanges if they do not comply with the auditing regulations. The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, co-authored by Reps John Kennedy and Chris Van Hollen would also require the Chinese firms to reveal if they are owned or controlled by any foreign government. Even though the bill still requires the approval of US President Donald Trump, White House has reportedly said on December 2 that it would happen shortly.

In addition to the bill scrutinising the Chinese firms, the US government on Wednesday even moved to ban cotton imports from a company that it says uses forced labour of the detained Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. 

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