Washington, March 7 (Reuters) - Leaders of a U.S. House of Representatives panel have urged top Chinese telecom companies to disclose any ties to the Chinese military and government, citing national security concerns related to the companies' operations in the United States.
Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, the ranking Democrat on the House Select Committee on China, and the panel's chair, Republican John Moolenaar, have requested China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom to respond to a series of inquiries by March 31, according to letters reviewed by Reuters on Friday.
The lawmakers expressed worries that these companies could potentially misuse their access to American data through their U.S. cloud and internet services by sharing it with Beijing, drawing attention to a Commerce Department investigation.
In one of the letters to the firms seen by Reuters, the lawmakers stated, "China Telecom’s current operations in the U.S., particularly in internet backbone exchanges and cloud computing environments, could facilitate unauthorized data access, espionage, or sabotage by the Chinese Communist Party."
Highlighting the firms' "confirmed ties to (Chinese) intelligence," the lawmakers underscored pressing national security concerns amidst the Chinese government's escalating cyber attacks on U.S. telecommunications networks.
The companies have not immediately responded to requests for comments.
The letters reveal a mounting bipartisan apprehension regarding the U.S. presence of Chinese telecom companies following a series of prominent cyber attacks on American telecommunications infrastructure.
Terming it "the worst telecom hack in our nation's history," the cyber attack - linked to China's Ministry of State Security - compromised sensitive data of millions of Americans, as described by the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee Mark Warner. The FBI characterized it as China's "most significant cyber-espionage campaign in history." Beijing has denied involvement in these attacks.
China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom have long been under scrutiny in Washington. In both 2019 and subsequent years, the Federal Communications Commission rejected China Mobile's and China Unicom's applications to provide telecommunications services in the U.S.
In April 2024, the FCC took stricter measures, prohibiting these companies from offering broadband services once new net neutrality rules were enforced.
The lawmakers underscored that there are no barriers preventing Chinese telecom companies from supplying cloud services and routing bulk U.S. internet traffic, thereby granting them access to American citizens' data.