Ecuador is suspending its visa-waiver policy for China amid an influx of Chinese nationals using the South American country as a transit point to reach the U.S. border.

The country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs cited an "unusual increase in irregular migratory flows of Chinese citizens" who have overstayed their visa exemption period or are using Ecuador as a launch point for "other destinations in the hemisphere."

Ecuador is the only South American country offering a 90-day visa exemption to Chinese nationals, a policy established through a mutual visa exemption agreement in 2016. This has made it a hub for Chinese migrants who plan to embark on the "zou xian" (walking route), a hazardous journey of over 2,000 miles to the U.S.-Mexico border, during which they face river crossings, jungle, and cartels.

"In recent months, there has been a worrying increase in migratory flows from China, and approximately 50 percent of these entries have not exited through regular routes within the legally established timeframes," the ministry wrote.

Ecuadorian customs data reveals that while 48,381 Chinese nationals entered the country last year, only 24,240 departed, indicating that 24,141 Chinese either remained illegally or left through unauthorized routes. This is more than any other nationality.

The number of Chinese nationals arriving at the U.S.'s southern border has surged dramatically in recent years. Last year, border patrol agents detained over 37,000 people, a tenfold increase from 2022 numbers.

Ecuador's foreign ministry emphasized its commitment to providing "adequate security guarantees" to foreign nationals to prevent "human trafficking or migrant smuggling" and to ensuring "adequate immigration control."

Newsweek contacted the Ecuadorian embassy and U.S. Customs and Border Protection via written requests for comment outside of office hours.

At a regular press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian stated that the visa-exemption agreement had "played an important and positive role in promoting cross-border travel and cooperation between the two countries." Lin said the Chinese government "firmly opposes all forms of human smuggling" and is collaborating with relevant countries to combat human smuggling and repatriate illegal immigrants.

Many of the Chinese encountered had middle-class backgrounds and have cited economic difficulties as motivation for undertaking the arduous journey.

I think for them, it does show a level of desperation. It's hard to explain from a purely economic perspective—I think a lot of it has to do with public policy in China," Victor Shih, an expert on Chinese economic policies at the University of California, San Diego, told Nikkei. "China has a social safety net, but it's extremely minimal."