Nasa blocks Chinese citizens with US visas from its facilities
As race to the moon heats up, space agency spokeswoman says move is to ‘ensure the security of our work’
Although the space agency has typically restricted the employment of Chinese citizens, those on US visas without affiliations with Chinese government institutions or state-owned companies have been able to contribute as contractors, graduate students, or university scientists.
On Wednesday, Nasa spokeswoman Bethany Stevens said the agency had taken “internal action” pertaining to Chinese nationals. This includes “restricting physical and cybersecurity access to our facilities, materials, and network to ensure the security of our work”, she said.
On September 5, Chinese citizens lost physical and virtual access to Nasa’s data systems and to agency meetings pertaining to their work, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the news, citing people familiar with the situation.
The Chinese embassy in Washington on Wednesday called the move “discriminatory”.
“China has consistently and firmly opposed the US’s generalisation of the concept of national security,” said embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu. “Science and technology issues should not be politicised.”