China could pose a threat to U.S. communications networks and cyber freedom, the outgoing chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has warned, in what will be one of the biggest national security issues facing U.S. communications authorities in the next four years.
Ajit Pai, the outgoing chairman of the FCC, told Reuters on Wednesday (Jan. 20) that a variety of Chinese activities are of concern, including surveillance, economic espionage and “planting malware in communications networks in the United States or around the world.” He said, “When insecure devices are used to handle sensitive information, some bad things can happen.”
Pai was appointed chairman of the FCC by former President Donald Trump in 2017, and during his tenure he cracked down on Chinese network manufacturers such as huawei and ZTE. The FCC last month began revoking the authorization of China Telecom, China’s largest communications company, to operate in the United States.
Pai said, “The Chinese Communist Party has a very determined world view. They want to dominate this space and impose their will even beyond their own borders,” “and that poses a serious threat not just to cyber freedom, but to our national security and that of many of our allies.”
The FCC first warned last April that it might terminate the rights of three Chinese state-run communications companies to operate in the United States, and then voted to terminate China Mobile’s right to provide communications services in the United States, citing the possibility that the Chinese government could use the opportunity to engage in espionage.
Under Pai’s leadership, the Federal Communications Commission officially classified China’s Huawei and ZTE as national security threats, barring U.S. companies from using a total of $8.3 billion in U.S. government communications procurement funds to acquire equipment from the two Chinese companies. The U.S. Congress last December approved $1.9 billion in funding to cover the cost of replacing Chinese-made equipment in U.S. communications networks.
China’s Foreign Ministry said last December that the U.S. allegations were not true.
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