Three House Republicans are calling on President Donald Trump to punish China for attempting to steal coronavirus-related research on vaccines, testing and treatments, reports The Hill.

"For many years, the PRC has perpetrated cyber-attacks on Americans, our financial institutions, and even the U.S. government itself," Oregon's Greg Walden, Texas' Michael McCaul and North Carolina's Patrick McHenry wrote in a letter to Trump. "The response to this orchestrated malicious activity was always muted, however, with hopes that leniency toward PRC aggression would foster greater economic cooperation and deeper diplomatic ties."

The FBI, in a joint statement with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, in early May said it was investigating "the targeting and compromise of U.S. organizations conducting COVID-19-related research by [People's Republic of China]-affiliated cyber actors and non-traditional collectors" and urged all U.S. organizations researching the virus to beef up their cybersecurity practices.

The GOP lawmakers said the actions "must have consequences."

"If we do not utilize our sanctions strategically in response to bad acts, our sanctions regime loses its deterrent effect, and we will only see these cyber-attacks from the PRC further escalate," they wrote.

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