U.S Senator Tom Cottonby U.S. Senator Tom Cotton: Over the past few weeks, the Washington Post has been attacking me for pointing out the real possibility that the China virus originated as a leak from a Chinese lab. Yesterday, I wrote a letter addressing these attacks and made it clear that it's not xenophobic to call out China; in fact, it's the right thing to do.
I wanted to share the following so you can see why I continue to stand up to China.
The Post has printed several articles opposing my suggestion that the United States restrict Chinese nationals from studying advanced scientific and technological subjects in our country.
"It's hard to know what triggered Cotton's rant," Catherine Rampell wrote in her April 28 op-ed, "Restricting student visas is nonsensical," resorting to ad hominem cries of "xenophobia." Ms. Rampell didn't bother to mention Chinese espionage until the last paragraph of her column.
Here's context: About 370,000 Chinese nationals are studying in the United States. Nearly half are studying in scientific and technological fields. The Chinese government pressures some of these students into becoming spies. The FBI is investigating 1,000 cases related to China's intellectual property theft across the country. The Chinese military has sent at least 500 military researchers to the United States, often under false identities.
The United States has responded to similar threats by restricting what students from adversary nations can study. Scientific exchange between the Soviet Union and the United States was highly restricted, and it was exploited by the Soviet Union. President Barack Obama signed legislation barring Iranian students from studying nuclear science. I don't recall accusations of xenophobia directed at him.
The Chinese Communist Party is our enemy. It aims to displace the United States as the world's preeminent economic and military power. We ought not aid that ambition. Yet that's exactly what we're doing when we open our most advanced labs to Chinese nationals. -----------------------------Senator Tom Cotton, R-AR is a U.S. Senator representing Arkansas constituents, including the editor of the ARRA News Service.
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