The Republicans in the House of Representatives are set to introduce a bill that will restrict Chinese nationals from obtaining American student or research visas.
The initiative is preceded by warnings from a Republican representative, Riley Moore, about the Chinese Communist Party exploiting the visa program. However, Moore is not the only Republican who believes that China uses universities and other academic institutions for espionage. According to Riley Moore, the FBI charged five Chinese nationals with student visas last year after they were caught photographing joint US-Taiwan live-fire military exercises.
Moreover, several American universities have stopped their partnerships with Chinese universities over National Security Concerns.
According to the procedure, the bill should first be adopted by the House of Representatives and later by the Senate, although it has no known co-sponsors at the time. It is expected that this role will be fulfilled by the Texas, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania representatives – Brandon Gill, Andy Ogles, and Scott Perry.
It is also important that the initiative comes after the reports of US President Donald Trump’s administration considering travel bans for the nationals of certain countries, but there are no indications of China being on the list at this time.
