The Trump administration’s move to bar Harvard University from enrolling international students has ricocheted across China, with officials and commentators seeing it through one lens: the growing rivalry between Washington and Beijing.

China will safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of its overseas students and scholars, the foreign ministry said on Friday, responding to the Trump administration's decision to block Harvard University from enrolling foreign students.

The president made the request in a social media post May 25, the latest in an ongoing battle between his administration and the Ivy League university.