Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 29, 2020 PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP IS PROTECTING AMERICA FROM CHINA’S EFFORTS TO STEAL TECHNOLOGY AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY   “Protecting the innovations, creations, and inventions that power our country are vital to our economic prosperity and national security.” – President Donald J. Trump   SAFEGUARDING NATIONAL SECURITY: President Donald J. Trump is dismantling China’s ability to use graduate students to steal intellectual property and technology from the United States. President Trump has issued a proclamation to block certain graduate level and above Chinese nationals associated with entities in China that implement or support China’s Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) strategy, from using F or J visas to enter the United States. China’s theft of American technology, intellectual property, and research threatens the safety, security, and economy of the United States. Today’s actions will not affect students who come to the United States for legitimate reasons. Affected students are those who have been employed by or who studied or researched with Chinese entities that support China’s MCF strategy. PRESERVING AMERICAN SUPERIORITY: President Trump is ensuring that our Nation remains militarily and technologically dominant. The United States is the leading innovator of next-generation technologies, including those with military applications. China’s MCF strategy is an attempt to develop the most technologically advanced military in the world by any means necessary, including by co-option and coercion. Through China’s MCF strategy, the People’s Liberation Army is using certain Chinese students and researchers to steal American technological secrets and innovations. China should not be permitted to advance its military development through access to our Nation’s educational and research centers. President Trump is preventing China from acquiring critical American technologies that could boost its military and threaten our national security interests, by suspending and limiting the entry into the United States of high-risk students and researchers from China. KEEPING PERSISTENT PRESSURE ON CHINA: Today’s action is the latest example of President Trump’s commitment to preventing China from taking advantage of the United States. The Department of Justice’s China Initiative and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are directing resources to identify and prosecute trade secrets theft, hacking, and economic espionage. President Trump has successfully used tariffs to persuade China to sign a Phase One Trade Agreement that secured significant protections for American businesses and workers. The President has taken action against China to protect American producers from unfair competition and counterfeit goods. President Trump has taken action to prevent foreign malign actors from gaining access to United States information networks.