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The U.S. Department of State spokesperson Tammy Bruce speaks during a press briefing in Washington on March 28, 2025. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

The U.S. State Department is ramping up its scrutiny of all Chinese nationals currently in the United States on a visa, the latest in a series of major shifts on visa policies this week.

The department confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio had issued an internal instruction on May 27 for embassies around the world to immediately pause student visa interviews as it prepares new vetting guidance.

The following day, Rubio confirmed the United States would begin revoking visas for Chinese students with ties to the Chinese Communist Party or who are studying in critical fields.

These growing visa restrictions follow longstanding concerns about Chinese espionage and intellectual property theft targeting U.S. universities and other research centers.

Speaking with reporters at a Thursday press briefing, department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce noted the expanded vetting process will apply not just to student visa applicants, but to visas for all Chinese nationals, including Hong Kong passport holders. Further, she said the State Department will continue to monitor those who have been approved for a visa.

“Vetting is not a one-time process; it’s continuing,” she said. (💬 Comment)

More Politics:

A group of protestors, organized by pro-Chinese Communist Party individuals, try to disrupt a Falun Gong parade in the Manhattan borough of New York City on May 9, 2025. (Edwin Huang/The Epoch Times)

Tactics used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to influence public perception in the United States appear to be evolving.

In the past, groups of Chinese individuals were often observed arriving by bus, waving red communist party flags, and positioning themselves to counter human rights protests, particularly those by Falun Gong practitioners, a group persecuted in China.

More recently, are instances in which small groups, including non-Chinese individuals, have participated in protests that appear to align with CCP narratives, based on their signage and materials, The Epoch Times has documented.

These activities have raised concerns among some observers about foreign influence operations in the United States.

A small group of fewer than 10 individuals, primarily non-Chinese, was observed on May 9 near a human rights parade organized by Falun Gong practitioners in New York City.

The group held banners and distributed materials that appeared to echo the anti-Falun Gong propaganda found in Chinese state media. The materials were written in English, and while a Chinese man was seen filming the group, his role remains unclear.

An Epoch Times freelancer reported overhearing a police officer ask one protester, a black man, if he was paid to participate. The man responded, “$200,” a figure the officer repeated, then turning to colleagues to say, “I told you they were paid.” The Epoch Times has not independently verified this payment or its source.

In other instances, three individuals involved in similar protests—one Hispanic, one black, and one Chinese—stated they participated for financial reasons. The Hispanic individual described the activity as “work,” while the others mentioned needing the money, according to interviews conducted by The Epoch Times.

Sarah Cook, a China researcher who has studied influence operations, expressed concern about the involvement of Americans in activities that may align with CCP objectives, potentially without full awareness of the context.

The purpose of using non-Chinese people makes it “seem like it’s authentic and it’s grassroots,” she told The Epoch Times.

“People are going to pay more attention.”

“We see time and again that the tactics that are experimented upon with one target community—particularly Falun Gong—end up then being refined and used against another target,” she said. (More)

More U.S. News

A Greenlandic official has raised the stakes in the contest for its minerals, suggesting that the Danish territory could turn to China if the United States and Europe do not move fast enough.

Greenland’s minister for mineral resources, Naaja Nathanielsen, hinted at that possibility in an interview with the Financial Times published on May 27.

“We want to develop our business sector and diversify it, and that requires investments from outside,’’ said Nathanielsen, whose four-party coalition government was elected in March.

When prompted about China, she said that Greenland seeks “to partner up with European and American partners.”

“But if they don’t show up, I think we need to look elsewhere,” she added.

Greenland has zinc, gold, copper, and many other minerals, including an estimated 1.5 million tons of rare earth resources.

President Donald Trump previously cited those critical minerals to explain his interest in acquiring the world’s largest island.

China, which presently dominates global rare earth mining and processing, has also sought to develop Greenland’s rare earth resources.

During the Biden administration, the United States lobbied a firm involved in the Tanbreez rare earth play, urging it not to sell to a Chinese-linked buyer.

Not far from Tanbreez, a uranium and rare earth element project that had investments from the Chinese firm Shenghe Holdings was stopped short in 2021 when the Greenlandic government banned uranium mining.

Nathanielsen was involved in that effort.

The CEO of the Bank of Greenland told Bloomberg in March that the European Union or the United States must guarantee purchases of critical minerals from the island.

That same month, China’s state news agency reported that Greenland’s new foreign minister expressed interest in more cooperation with that country.

Greenland and Beijing last month agreed to streamline China’s access to Greenlandic fish exports. (More)

More World News:

📷 Photo of the Day: A worker cleans the lines of a cooling tower at an ice factory on a hot day in Karachi, Pakistan, on May 29, 2025. (Asif Hassan/AFP via Getty Images)

Our photography editors comb through the best images in the world every day. See their picks for today here ➞ Ice Factory, Patrol Plane Crashed, and Royal Agricultural Show

🇺🇲 American Thought Leaders: How Numbers Can Lie in Scientific Research (Watch)

✍️ Opinion: Falling for Socialism by Lika Kobeshavidze (Read)

🎵 Music: Hector Berlioz – Requiem (Listen)

🏆 Winner: The most clicked article yesterday was—7 Disease-Fighting Benefits of Walking

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Sergey Ryzhov/Shutterstock

Scientists are sounding the alarm on what they call an overlooked threat to public health: synthetic chemicals from packaging and processing equipment contaminating the food supply—particularly ultra-processed items—and potentially fueling a rise in chronic health conditions.

A comprehensive review article recently published in Nature Medicine highlights some of the most prevalent types and sources of synthetic chemical contaminants in food: chemicals known as food contact chemicals (FCCs), which may contribute to chronic health conditions, including endocrine disruption, reproductive issues, and increased cancer risks.

The widespread nature of FCC contamination may have escaped public attention because these chemicals migrate invisibly into food through routine processes we usually consider safe.

Unlike visible food safety concerns such as bacterial contamination or spoilage, FCCs transfer silently from materials that come into contact with food through four key routes, as identified by the researchers: transportation, processing, packaging, and preparation.

Transportation introduces FCCs through storage containers and tubing systems used to move food products. During this stage, chemicals from container coatings and transport equipment can leach into foods—especially when exposed to temperature changes or extended contact periods.

Food processing—the industrial transformation of raw ingredients into finished products—exposes foods to machinery, conveyor systems, and processing equipment that contain various synthetic materials. The high temperatures and mechanical processes involved in manufacturing can accelerate chemical migration from these surfaces.

Plastic food packaging represents a significant source of contamination, as it involves prolonged direct contact between synthetic materials and food products. (More)

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