US President Donald Trump said he would allow 600,000 Chinese students to enter the United States which is double the current figure, and reiterated that President Xi Jinping had invited him “to come to China”.

The significant shift in tone from the US government came soon after the Chinese embassy in the US advised students to “be cautious when choosing” Houston as their destination when entering America, saying some students have been “unjustifiably questioned and harassed” recently.

On Monday, while meeting South Korean President Lee Jae-myung at the White House, Trump told reporters that the US would allow more Chinese to study in his country.

“I hear so many stories about we’re not going to allow their [Chinese] students … to come in. We’re going to allow their students to come in. It’s very important, 600,000 students,” Trump said, which would more than double the current number of Chinese students learning in the country.

He said his administration was going to “get along good” with China, and repeated that Xi had invited him to visit China.

Trump said he had spoken to Xi “fairly recently” and that “at some point, probably during this year or shortly thereafter, we’ll go to China”.

Asked about Trump’s comments on a possible China visit this year, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Tuesday that the two countries’ leaders had kept “close exchanges and communication,” while offering no confirmation of such a trip.

“Head-of-state diplomacy plays an irreplaceable strategic guiding role in China-US relations,” Guo said.

Trump’s message on students from China came hours after Beijing’s embassy in the US said “numerous Chinese students” had undergone unreasonable checks when entering the US through customs at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport and had had their electronic devices inspected.

According to an embassy statement, one person was subjected to “restricted personal freedom for more than 80 hours” and was “ultimately deported without a reason”.

Students should prepare for the possibility of such an inspection, the embassy suggested, and highlighted that the immigration department could also check their social media.

“Please ensure that your words and actions [in social media] are lawful and compliant,” it said.

Last week, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Chinese students at the US border were taken to a “small, dark room” to be inspected for more than 70 hours, but did not specify if it was in Houston.

The “small, dark room” is commonly used slang in China referring to a room for secondary inspection at US Customs and Border Protection.

Trump’s second administration has conducted rounds of immigration crackdowns, including policies targeting Chinese students.

Last week, the State Department said more than 6,000 foreign students had had their visas revoked since Trump took office.

It also announced it was vetting more than 55 million US visa holders for deportable offences, including overstaying, criminal activity and engaging in any form of “terrorist activity”.

The administration is also cracking down on US academia’s links with China, a campaign that dates back to Trump’s first term, when policymakers began raising alarms about whether these educational contacts were giving Beijing a technological edge.

But Trump has repeatedly reiterated his support for Chinese students in the US despite his cabinet’s hawkish policy, stating that he would welcome them to America and be in favour of “letting them stay” and being hired by American companies.

He made the statement just weeks after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in May that Washington would start “aggressively” revoking visas issued to Chinese students, including those “with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields”.

Trump’s statement on Monday of letting 600,000 Chinese students in, however, marked another such public pledge to support Chinese students.

Fewer than 300,000 Chinese students were studying in the US during the 2023-24 school year, according to a survey carried out by the Institute of International Education (IIE) and sponsored by the US State Department.

India has overtaken China as the top source of international students in the US, with 331,602 students – an increase of 23 per cent year on year, according to the same report.

US legislation has promoted bills that could block Chinese students’ visas. In March, a far-reaching bill was introduced in the US House of Representatives which would prevent Chinese nationals from getting any of the main types of student visas issued by the US.

Texas, a Republican-dominated state, where Houston is located, has introduced its own bill, which aims to ban citizens from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from applying to any public universities in the state.

Ohio, another Republican-leaning state, passed a bill in April that references China in its order to clamp down on “foreign influence”.

The passage directly triggered the Chinese Ministry of Education to issue its first study advisory in 2025, warning Chinese students to “make a security assessment” before studying in Ohio.