China denounces new US visa ‘restrictions’ for members of Chinese Communist Party

China has lambasted the outgoing administration of US President Donald Trump for imposing travel restrictions on members of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and their families.

The New York Times, citing a spokesman of the US State Department, reported Wednesday that the White House had capped visas for 92 million members of the CCP and their immediate families to one month and a single entry into the US.

Previously, CCP members like other Chinese citizens, could obtain US visitor visas of up to 10 years’ duration. The new rules, adopted to purported protect the US from the CCP’s so-called “malign influence”, took immediate effect on Wednesday.

Later in the day, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying denounced the new US rules, saying that “some extreme anti-China forces in the US” were behind the scheme.

“I think everyone can see this very clearly. I think this is some extreme anti-China forces in the US, out of strong ideological bias and a very deep-rooted cold war mentality, showing behavior that is political, suppressive, and escalating. China of course is resolutely opposed to this,” she added at a regular press conference in the capital Beijing.

US-China relations facing serious challenge

The US and China have leveled accusations against each other over the origins of COVID-19.

The new visa rules will add to the multifaceted conflict between Washington and Beijing on trade, technology, the origins of the novel coronavirus, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the South China Sea, and accusations of human rights violations in Xinjiang.

Under Trump, relations between China and the US, the world's two largest economies, have sunk to the lowest point in decades.

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