NEW YORK- U.S. President Donald Trump's administration issued rules to restrict travel to the United States by Chinese Communist Party members and their families, the State Department said in a statement sent on Thursday.

The policy reduces the maximum validity of B1/B2 visitor visas for Party members and their immediate family members from 10 years to 1 month, the statement said. The measure was aimed at protecting the nation from the party's "malign influence."

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Ted Hesson, Editing by Franklin Paul) ((mica.rosenberg@thomsonreuters.com; (646) 223-6735;))