US-China big chill may freeze out Chinese students from American university research labs

Three lawmakers propose bill to prohibit students from Chinese mainland studying STEM subjects in US

‘Chinese Communist Party has long used American universities to conduct espionage on the United States,’ Republican Senator Tom Cotton says

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US lawmakers are proposing a bill to ban mainland Chinese from studying science and technology at American universities. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 6:30pm, 28 May 2020Updated: 9:46pm, 28 May 2020

American universities may be next to feel the big chill in China-US relations as a group of US lawmakers are proposing a bill to ban mainland Chinese from studying science and technology in the United States, arguing they pose a threat to national security.

The two senators and one member of the House of Representatives on Wednesday said the Secure Campus Act would effectively bar Chinese nationals from receiving visas for graduate or postgraduate study in so-called STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields. Those from Taiwan and Hong Kong would be exempt.

“The Chinese Communist Party has long used American universities to conduct espionage on the United States,” said Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, one of the sponsors of the bill and a critic of Beijing.

“What’s worse is that their efforts exploit gaps in current law. It’s time for that to end,” he said. “The Secure Campus Act will protect our national security and maintain the integrity of the American research enterprise.”

The proposed legislation comes as diplomatic relations have fractured between the world’s two largest economies. The fissures started to show during a trade war that has been rumbling on for almost two years and have only widened amid accusations about the handling of the Covid-19 disease outbreak, and the treatment of ethnic minority groups in China.