Four Republican senators introduced a bill that aims to provide greater scrutiny of visas for Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members on Nov. 17.
According to a statement by Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the primary sponsor of the bill, it will ban the issuance of nonimmigrant visas to the 93 million CCP members.
This legislation will disincentivize Chinese nationals from joining the CCP, and restrict CCP’s espionage and propaganda operations in the United States, said the statement.
Currently, the CCP members could enter the United States for vacation and perform non-official governmental business on 10-year, multi-entry B-1 and B-2 visas.
Rubio said that every CCP member is tasked with accomplishing its goal to “weaken and undermine the United States” and “to become the world’s sole power.”
“It defies common sense to allow CCP members to vacation, shop, or conduct business in our country,” said Rubio in the statement.
The Risks Posed by CCP
Co-sponsors included Sens. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.).
According to the statement, Cramer indicated that no one needs to have CIA-level clearance to know China is a bad actor, and the Americans need a strategic decoupling from China.
He said that the CCP “actively works against the United States’ interests every day.”
He believed that this bill will provide greater scrutiny of visas for CCP members regardless of how long they want to enter the country.
Scott said, “Communist China is our enemy and is on a quest for total world domination,” referring to how the CCP agents come to America to steal intellectual property, track the citizens, and infiltrate critical research institutions.
He believed that many Chinese visitors are well-meaning and should be granted entry into the United States.
But the federal government must mandate thorough vetting to ensure that visitors from Communist China are not CCP agents or associated with the CCP in any way, Scott said in the statement.
He said, “I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting this good bill which will keep our country safe, keep foreign spies out of America and protect our valuable trade secrets.”
Tuberville said that America should not tolerate the blatant intellectual property theft by the CCP.
He indicated that CCP’s increasingly hostile role on the world stage and willingness to orchestrate cyber and intellectual crime has made them the top adversary of the United States.
He said, “It makes no sense to allow those who would harm the United States to lawfully enter our country for any reason.”
“We must do everything we can to stop harmful foreign interference in our society and economy,” including banning CCP members from obtaining B-1 and B-2 nonimmigrant visas, Tuberville stated.
Chinese nationals would still be eligible for other visa categories, including diplomatic, student, athlete/artists, exchange visitors, intra-company, physicians, and investors, according to the statement.
Lin Yan contributed to this report.
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Mary Hong has contributed to The Epoch Times since 2020. She has reported on Chinese human rights issues and politics.
