Foreign and Military Affairs

Chinese officials to face curbs on US visas: FT

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-04-27 10:43

SINGAPORE - The US government may make it more difficult for senior Chinese officials to secure visas, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

It quoted a US official as saying Washington was responding to China's cancellation of several bilateral meetings. The Financial Times said Beijing had cancelled academic and cultural programmes hosted by the United States.

"Given the current climate of cancelled meetings and cancelled US funded programmes in China, we are reviewing our procedures for approving visas for Chinese officials and their families," the unidentified US official said.

The daily said such a measure would overturn a system of expedited visas for top officials, executives of state companies and children of officials.

As the two-day Chinese-US talks on human rights are geting under way in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday warned against using human rights disputes as "an excuse to interfere in China's domestic affairs".