Washington, D.C. – Congressman Riley M. Moore has just introduced new, groundbreaking legislation to halt the issuance of student visas to Chinese nationals. The Stop Chinese Communist Prying by Vindicating Intellectual Safeguards in Academia Act (Stop CCP VISAs Act) comes on the heels of several cases where Chinese students have been caught spying on the U.S. military or stealing advanced technology from American companies. Rep. Moore first raised concern about this issue in an op-ed in Newsweek in February.
Five House lawmakers joined Rep. Moore in co-sponsoring the legislation: Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX); Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA); Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX); Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN); and Rep. Addison McDowell (R-NC).
Congressman Moore issued the following statement:
“Every year we allow nearly 300,000 Chinese nationals to come to the U.S. on student visas. We’ve literally invited the CCP to spy on our military, steal our intellectual property, and threaten national security. Just last year, the FBI charged five Chinese nationals here on student visas after they were caught photographing joint US-Taiwan live fire military exercises. This cannot continue.
“Congress needs to end China’s exploitation of our student visa program. It’s time we turn off the spigot and immediately ban all student visas going to Chinese nationals.”