US lawmakers target Chinese as potential campus spy threats
- Students, professors and researchers from China face renewed pressure with proposed legislation
- Restrictions planned on access to sensitive research and funding from China
Chinese students and scholars will find it harder to work in the United States if a group of US lawmakers succeed in passing legislation aimed at securing potentially sensitive information.
The members of Congress, mostly President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans, are writing bills that would require more reporting from colleges, universities and laboratories about funds from China, prohibit students or scholars with ties to the Chinese military from entering the United States, or set new limits on access to sensitive academic research.
Failure to comply could mean financial hardship.
The proposed bills add to growing pressure against Chinese students, researchers, companies and other organisations in the United States.
Amid an escalating trade war between China and the US, members of Congress have become increasingly concerned the thousands of Chinese students, professors and researchers in the US could pose a security threat by carrying sensitive information back to China.