China to accept only mainland citizens repatriated from US

ISTANBUL

Beijing on Monday said it will only accept its citizens from mainland China if repatriated from the US, state media reported.

“As a matter of principle, the Chinese government firmly opposes any form of illegal immigration activities,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing.

She was responding to questions about whether China plans to bring back illegal Chinese immigrants from the US.

Beijing has carried out “pragmatic cooperation with the immigration law enforcement agencies of relevant countries, including the US, and achieved positive results,” Mao said.

“Regarding the repatriation, China's principle is to verify first and then repatriate. We will accept Chinese citizens who are verified to be from the Chinese mainland,” she added.

China also administers Macao and Hong Kong which have semi-autonomous governments with their own passports. It also considers Taiwan as its breakaway province which also has its own passport.

The newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump has declared an emergency along southern US borders to stop the entry of illegal migrants into the world’s largest economy, fulfilling one of his election promises.

Soon after returning to the White House for his non-consecutive second term, the Trump administration allowed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to make arrests in churches and schools where migrants might be sheltering.

It also triggered a brief showdown with the Latin American nation of Colombia which had earlier refused the landing of the US military aircraft carrying deported migrants as part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

However, later the two sides said the situation was normalized as the White House claimed Colombia "agreed to all terms set" by Trump regarding the return of the migrants.