This measure would mean reinstating visas for Chinese citizens, but the Foreign Ministry did not provide any details.
Since 2023, people from China are among the top nationalities of migrants reaching the United States.
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Influx of Chinese migrants on hazardous Central American route to reach US
Influx of Chinese migrants on hazardous Central American route to reach US
Ecuador, the only mainland country in the Americas that offered visa-free entry to Chinese nationals, has become a popular starting point for Chinese migrants who would trek northward through Central America before entering the US.
The Washington-based think tank Niskanen Centre, citing official data from the Ecuadorian government, said that Chinese nationals entered Ecuador 48,381 times in 2023 but only left 24,240 times. The difference of 24,141 was the highest of any nationality, according to Niskanen.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a daily briefing on Tuesday that Beijing “firmly opposes all forms of human smuggling” and that the country’s law enforcement has been “tough on all kinds of human smuggling groups and individuals engaged in illegal immigration”.
China also has been working with other countries to “jointly tackle human smuggling activities, repatriate illegal immigrants and maintain a good order in cross-border travel”, Lin said.
Lin said the mutual visa exemption agreement between China and Ecuador first came into effect in 2016.
As bilateral relations are stabilising, Beijing has resumed cooperation with Washington to repatriate Chinese nationals who are in the US illegally.
The number of Chinese immigrants entering the United States rose drastically last year, when US border officials arrested more than 37,000 Chinese nationals on the southern border, 10 times the number during the previous year.
The monthly tally fell in the first three months of this year, but it rose to 3,282 arrests in April. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican US presidential candidate, has suggested that the Chinese migrants, mostly men, could be building an army on American soil.
The Chinese migrants and their advocates have rejected Trump’s claims, saying they have left China for better economic prospects and a freer society after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.