Two Republican senators proposed a ban on issuing visas to Chinese graduate students and researchers in science and technology fields.
Sens. Tom Cotton and Marsha Blackburn argued that blocking Chinese students and researchers from receiving visas in STEM fields would protect “American ingenuity.”
“The Chinese Communist Party has long used American universities to conduct espionage on the United States. What’s worse is that their efforts exploit gaps in current law. It’s time for that to end,” Cotton said in a statement Wednesday.
Chinese researchers and students have been under increased scrutiny from the United States over the Chinese government’s espionage capabilities, particularly in scientific fields. U.S. officials said in February that the number of arrests related to Chinese espionage cases had risen dramatically.
Under the Cotton and Blackburn bill, named the SECURE CAMPUS Act, Chinese nationals would not be granted visas for graduate study or research work in STEM fields, with few exceptions. The ban does not apply to members of religious or ethnic groups systematically oppressed by the Chinese Communist Party or visa applicants from Taiwan or Hong Kong.
The legislation also requires universities and laboratories that receive federal funding “to attest that they will not knowingly employ participants in China’s foreign talent recruitment programs.” Participants in talent recruitment programs would have to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Through its Thousand Talents Program, China has exploited its access to American research labs and academic institutions. The U.S. has arrested and charged a number of scientists and researchers who have participated in the program, including Charles Lieber, the chairman of Harvard University’s chemistry department, who does not have Chinese heritage.
In 2018, the Justice Department launched the China Initiative to combat the espionage threat. The initiative has sparked fears about racial profiling, particularly among researchers and students, whom China often uses to steal secrets from the U.S.
The New York Times reported Thursday that the Trump administration was planning to revoke thousands of visas held by Chinese graduate students and researchers in the U.S. Those with direct ties to universities affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army will have their visas canceled, American officials with knowledge of the discussions said.
The expulsions could affect at least 3,000 students, according to some estimates. Though it’s a small percentage of the approximately 360,000 Chinese students in the U.S., it is likely to spark pushback from universities that rely on full tuition payments from foreign students and critics who say the administration’s crackdown is contributing to a new “red scare.”
Cotton indicated that such legislation relating to visas was on the horizon in April.
“It’s a scandal to me that we have trained so many of the Chinese Communist Party’s brightest minds to go back to China to compete for our jobs, to take our business, and ultimately to steal our property and design weapons and other devices that can be used against the American people,” he said. “So, I think we need to take a very hard look at the visas that we give the Chinese nationals to come to the United States to study, especially at the post-graduate level in advanced scientific and technological fields.”
