The United States is planning to cancel the visas of thousands of Chinese graduate students believed by President Donald Trump's administration to have links with China's military, two sources with knowledge of the matter say.
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The move, first reported by the New York Times, could affect 3000 to 5000 Chinese students and could be announced as early as this week, according to the sources, including a current US official and another individual who was briefed on the administration's internal discussions.
The United States and China are at loggerheads over China's decision to go forward with national security legislation for Hong Kong that democracy activists in the city fear could erode its freedoms and jeopardise its role as a global financial hub.
Chinese students who are in the United States will have their visas cancelled and will be expelled, the source briefed on the plans said, while those already outside the United States will not be allowed to return.
The main purpose of the action is to clamp down on spying and intellectual property theft that some Chinese citizens are suspected of engaging in on US university and college campuses, the source said, adding that the administration expected significant push back from those institutions because of their financial interests in Chinese student enrolment.
About 360,000 Chinese citizens who attend US schools annually generate economic activity of about $US14 billion ($A21 billion), largely from tuition and other fees.
Australian Associated Press
