U.S. Congress: "Chinese Telecommunications Equipment Still Remains in U.S. Data Centers" ... Accelerating Removal

U.S. House Committee Releases Bipartisan Report

"Three Chinese Telecom Giants Previously Ousted Over Security Concerns

Still Maintain Their Foundation in U.S. Internet Infrastructure"

On June 24th, people are passing by the Huawei booth at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) event held in Shanghai. Photo by AFP Yonhap News.

The U.S. Congress has issued a warning that equipment from Chinese telecommunications companies remains embedded in America's critical infrastructure, posing a threat to national security. The U.S. government is reportedly also considering expanding the scope of its information and communications technology (ICT) regulations against China from specific telecommunications equipment to encompass the broader data center infrastructure.

On August 4 (local time), the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party released a bipartisan report stating that China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom still maintain a widespread presence within the infrastructure of the U.S. internet. Although these three companies previously either had their "U.S. Section 214" telecommunications service authorizations revoked or denied due to national security concerns, the committee pointed out that their owned equipment, data center connectivity, and network nodes remain in place.

The committee highlighted that the U.S. subsidiaries of these Chinese state-owned telecommunications carriers are not, in practical terms, separate from their parent companies in China. Furthermore, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) only has the authority to restrict the services sold by these companies, but does not have the power to remove their equipment and networks. As a result, the committee expressed concern that Chinese-controlled telecommunications infrastructure within the United States could be exploited as a conduit for cyberattacks by the Chinese government in the future.

During its investigation, the committee also found evidence of abnormal internet routing activities that coincided with major hacking incidents allegedly backed by the Chinese Communist Party. Based on these findings, the committee assessed that the residual infrastructure of Chinese telecommunications companies in the United States could facilitate malicious cyber operations for China in the future.

As countermeasures, the committee recommended that Congress enact legislative authority for the FCC to restrict business licenses, establish regulatory authority over the residual telecommunications infrastructure held by adversary nations, expand reviews of infrastructure controlled by foreign governments, provide budgetary support for a "Rip-and-Replace" program to remove Chinese-made equipment, strengthen internet routing security, and mandate logging and monitoring of targeted infrastructure.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Reuters Yonhap News Agency

John Moolenaar, a Republican from Michigan and chairman of the committee, stated, "The U.S. subsidiaries of Chinese telecommunications companies are subservient to the Chinese Communist Party. This is a threat to all of us." He stressed, "To protect the American people, we must remove these subsidiaries from the U.S. telecommunications infrastructure." U.S. government sanctions on the issue are expected to intensify further. A source familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the FCC is working on a plan to prohibit the use of Chinese-made data center components.

Some officials from the Trump Administration have pointed to the example of Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer, in arguing the need for these regulations. They note it cost billions of dollars to remove Huawei equipment that had become entrenched in the foundation of U.S. telecommunications infrastructure, stating that repeating such a mistake must be avoided. According to the Guardian, if the new measures are implemented, Zhongji Innolight, one of the world's largest optical transceiver manufacturers based in China, is expected to be the hardest hit. In June, the U.S. Department of Defense added this company to its list of entities connected to the Chinese military.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.