By: April Feng

The Trump administration has recently announced a drafted presidential proclamation on a travel ban of Chinese Communist Party members and their families. The legislation would unequivocally heighten already tense relations between the United States and China.

This proclamation would primarily serve to forcibly remove and limit visiting party members and their families from the United States. Visas of party members residing in the United States would also be revoked under this proclamation.

Although President Trump has strongly advocated anti-Chinese policies as a large part of his campaign, the plan may be rejected. He has praised China’s policies and President Xi Jinping on many occasions, resulting in many contradictory statements on the Chinese government.

Many practicality issues are also present. There is no absolute way to identify Chinese Communist Party members, rendering it very difficult to expel and ban the targeted party members. There is also no current record of Chinese with party member status. Furthermore, the broad ban against all members of the Chinese Communist Party would fan the flames of the current conflict between China and the United States.

Critics of the plan have also spoken against the categorization of all party members as threats to national security. According to Jude Blanchette, “The overwhelming majority of C.C.P. members have no involvement or input into Beijing’s policymaking, so going after the entire party membership is like China sanctioning all Republicans because of frustrations with Trump.”

Trump’s advisors have also brought up economic issues regarding the ban. Further worldwide economic instability may result from the broad ban of the proposal. Moreover, American corporations working or collaborating with Chinese companies would suffer from falling stocks.

Worries about national security threats from China also stretch over to the business world, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently announcing a visa restriction on Huawei and other Chinese technology companies. Explaining the decision, he stated, “If they are doing business with Huawei, they are doing business with human rights abusers.”

Wang Yi, foreign minister of China, spoke on the relations between the United States and China earlier this month. Despite the fact that the two nations may be facing its “most severe challenge” yet, Yi encourages both nations to “[build] on past achievements and [keep] pace with the times.”