Florida Senator Rick Scott has accused every mainland Chinese citizen of being a Communist spy during an interview on the Fox Business network.

In his discussion with host Stuart Varney, Scott claimed that “every citizen of Communist China by law has to spy on behalf of their country.”

Scott had recently filed a piece of legislation that would require students from China  to undergo “thorough vetting” before they are allowed to come to the United States and help with any COVID-19 vaccine research.

Accusing China of sending spies to sabotage research efforts in the U.S., he asserted on Wednesday that putting Chinese students under suspicion with such a bill is just “the way it should be.”

“Communist China is responsible for the Coronavirus pandemic, and their lies and misinformation cost American lives,” Scott said in an earlier statement. “We cannot let Communist China off the hook for this, and we absolutely cannot allow Communist China to steal or sabotage any American research efforts related to the Coronavirus vaccine. The COVID-19 Vaccine Protection Act protects American efforts to create a vaccine as we work to end this pandemic.”

In a separate interview with Charles Payne earlier this month, Scott claimed that the current crisis is “a new Cold War” and that “Communist China is an adversary.”

“We’re clearly going to ultimately sanction China,” Scott said. “We’re not going to let them sell things on our exchanges …. they’re clearly an adversary. It’s Communist China run by the Communist Party of China.”

“American companies have come to the realization that Communist China is not our friend. Think of how all these companies have been devastated by what Communist China did.”

Scott has also cited China’s treatment of Hong Kong activists and critics as among its “many transgressions.” Urging American consumers to boycott Chinese products, the senator has also made repeated calls for American divestment from Chinese businesses.

Featured image via FOX 4 Now