The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has declared that the US government’s actions to recall the visas of nearly 1,000 Chinese students are equal to ‘clear political persecution and racial discrimination’, AP reports.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson declared that this is to the detriment of ‘the lawful rights and interests of Chinese students studying in the US’. “This is clearly political persecution and racial discrimination that is a serious violation of the human rights of Chinese students in the US. China reserves itself the right to take steps to respond to this,” the spokesperson said.