Students in Beijing protest U.S. denial of visas
By Ted Anthony
Associated Press
Aug. 09, 2002
BEIJING - She emerged in tears, denied the American visa that, she said, would enable her to attend the University of Utah this fall. But when Cai Qi walked out of the U.S. Embassy, she encountered something quite unusual for China: a protest, one denouncing the very problem she was facing.
Calling the U.S. government unfair and uninformed about China, students turned down for U.S. visas staged a rare, peaceful protest outside the embassy on Thursday, demanding changes in how such applications are handled.
"I want more knowledge. I want to learn high-tech," said Cai, 24, her eyes moist as she spoke in Chinese. Then, her anger rising, she switched to English: "They think Chinese will just go there and not come back. Ridiculous!"
Roughly 25 students gathered on a busy street in front of the well-guarded entrance to the embassy's consular section, where hundreds mass each day seeking permission to visit the United States.
"It's not fair to Chinese. We're good people. We want to study," said demonstrator Yue Bo, who wants to study civil engineering at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Among eight of his friends from Tsinghua University, he said, only one visa application was accepted.
Most demonstrators, who said they had been rejected two, even three times, said interviews by U.S. Embassy immigration officials focused on whether the students had close ties to their homeland; in effect, whether they were likely to stay in the United States when their visas expired.
"Not a chance. I love my country. I hope to come back and promote the reform of China," said Yue Taipin, a protest leader who said he lost his opportunity to study public administration at the University of Southern California because his application was rejected.
The U.S. Embassy said in a statement that it was looking into the students' new complaints. It said it had responded to a protest letter from students earlier this week by offering additional reapplication dates "to ensure that Chinese student visa applicants in Beijing have a reasonable opportunity to obtain visas prior to the start of the academic year."
The midday demonstration was extraordinary in that it took place at all, and more so because police, rather than breaking it up, calmly managed it.
The students donned inside-out Beijing Opera T-shirts. On them were scrawled, "We only want to study," and, "Unreasonable administration in embassy damages the image and honor of USA."
Escorted by police, demonstrators eventually entered the embassy's heavily fortified perimeter and presented a letter to U.S. officials, their second missive in a week, demanding a review of how people are accepted and changes in the way visa officers operate.
也许上海，广州等地方的学生也应该行动起来。
我在上海，如有人响应，请跟进！
中国人也应该像美国人一样学会抗议！！！ |
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