'Will not tolerate China's exploitation of universities or conduct intelligence collection': US

The United States on Thursday said that America will not tolerate China's exploitation of its universities or theft of research, intellectual property, or technologies.

While addressing a briefing on Thursday (local time), US state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce reassured that the Trump administration is protecting the nation and citizens by upholding national security and public safety through visa process.

"The United States, I further can say here, will not tolerate the CCP’s exploitation of US universities or theft of US research, intellectual property, or technologies to grow its military power, conduct intelligence collection, or repress voices of opposition. The Trump Administration is focused on protecting our nation and our citizens by upholding our national security and public safety through our visa process, obviously very openly and transparently applied by Secretary Marco Rubio," she said in the briefing.

During a State Department briefing, Bruce said that every traveler will go through security vetting to prohibit the entry of those who poses a threat to the national security in order to protect the Americans.

"Every visa adjudication is a national security decision – every single one of them. Every prospective traveler to the United States undergoes interagency security vetting. Prohibiting entry to the United States by those who might pose a threat to US national security or public safety is key to protecting US citizens at home. So we’ve experienced this through these last several weeks. It is something that is at the heart and at really at the front line of protecting the country, and we’re taking it seriously and we’re being open about the nature of what’s happening in this particular instance," She said.

She refrained from specifying the number of Chinese students affected by Wednesday's announcement regarding aggressive visa revocations.

The policy announcement, delivered by Rubio, specified targeting students with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) affiliations or those studying critical subjects.

This development follows the Trump administration's directive to its global missions to suspend new appointments for student and exchange visitor visa applicants. When questioned about the resumption of appointments, Bruce advised applicants to monitor the US visa system for updates.