Beijing’s subdued reaction to the United States' progressive tightening of immigration policy for Chinese nationals signals the Middle Kingdom is not as powerful as its western counterpart, commentators say.

Chinese authorities could only afford to impose restrictions selectively instead of taking a blanket approach similar to the U.S. measures, veteran China watcher Johnny Lau noted.

Stricter curbs imposed by the U.S. include visa issuance to Chinese journalists since May that will limit their stay to 90 days. Students, visiting scholars and media representatives from China are not allowed to stay beyond four years, according to the revised rules by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Earlier this month, a Communist Party member was barred from entering the U.S. and his visa was revoked while trying to visit his daughter, American-based democracy activist Zheng Cunzhu said.

The U.S. Department of State also said that it had revoked more than 1,000 visas to Chinese citizens in order to block the entry of students and researchers with links to the army of China.

In comparison, the Chinese government has merely expelled a number of foreign journalists selectively, including three Wall Street Journal correspondents, two Americans and an Australian.

Another commentator, Sang Pu, said the State Department previously leaked to the media that it might bar members of the Communist Party from entering the country. The case that happened this month showed the U.S. was already carrying out the ban without putting it down in black and white.

Sang Pu said it was difficult for China to find a way of equivalent strength to hit back at the U.S. immigration restrictions on Chinese party members, because banning all Americans from entering the country would be out of proportion, while barring all Republicans from visiting would give support to speculation that the Republicans were anti-China and the Democrats were pro-China.

“China’s retaliation in the past has been all words and little action,” Sang Pu said.

According to Lau, even if Joe Biden won the U.S. presidential election in November, Washington’s strong stand against Beijing would not change because the current China policy was a consensus between the Democratic and Republican parties.

The U.S. had been viewing China as a real enemy since the latter rose in strength in recent years, closing the gap with Washington, Lau said.

He said it was difficult for Washington to stop Communist Party members or their families from entering the country because such people did not have to disclose their identity as party members when travelling to the U.S.; furthermore, there were already plenty of Communist Party members in the U.S. and Washington knew that.

Lau cited Jack Ma, founder of Chinese technology giant Alibaba, as an example. Ma went to the U.S. in 2014, took a picture with Donald Trump and claimed that he would create 10,000 jobs in that country. He was already a Communist Party member back then, Lau said, but his identity as a party member was only exposed in 2018.

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