Seven Republican senators have reintroduced legislation aiming to bar Chinese military scientists from entering or remaining in the United States. The bill (pdf), called the “People’s Liberation Army Visa Security Act,” intends to prohibit the issuance of U.S. student or research visas to individuals employed or sponsored by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). “We must ensure that individuals linked to the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army are not able to obtain research and student visas, which enable the theft of American technology,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said in a June 17 statement. “It is in our national security interest to ensure the CCP isn’t taking advantage of our open system to steal American intellectual property.” Besides seeking to impose a ban on new visas for individuals tied to the Chinese military, the legislation also calls on the Secretary of …