On February 1, local time, the "U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission" under the U.S. Congress held a hearing with the theme of "Current and Emerging Technologies in the U.S.-China Economic and National Security Competition". In the first panel session of the morning, a number of witnesses discussed the topic of "the risks of Chinese information technology (IT) products in the United States".
According to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, the United States ordered the removal of Chinese-made equipment used in U.S. telecommunications and security networks in 2019, citing a so-called "national security threat," and allocated $1.9 billion to fund the replacement. However, as the years passed, analysts at the hearing admitted that the plan would need tens of billions of dollars to expand the ban on the use of Chinese IT equipment, in addition to the $3.1 billion shortfall that the plan still faces.
Analysts also say that not only are there very few products on the market that can be substituted and priced as well as Chinese IT technology services, but it is also unlikely that all designated Chinese IT products will be eliminated, and even if they are, the cost will be prohibitive.
Still, others at the hearing shouted at apps and companies with Chinese backgrounds, indiscriminately accusing them of "collecting information about Americans" and threatening to add them to the U.S. entity list. The faces of these people, together with TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi's repeated questioning by US lawmakers at another hearing the day before, all prove once again that the United States continues to make "presumption of guilt" and unreasonable suppression of relevant Chinese companies.
Chinese telecommunications companies Huawei and ZTE data map
According to the data, the "U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission" is an agency established by the U.S. Government through congressional authorization in October 2000 to supervise and investigate national security and trade issues between the United States and China. The committee is appointed by congressmen from both parties and publishes the so-called "annual report" every year, which is considered an important guide for the US Congress and the White House to decide on U.S.-China policy.
Jack Corrigan, a senior research analyst at Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technologies, reportedly told the committee during a discussion on Chinese IT products: "Typically, there are very few products that are comparable in price and can substitute for designated China (IT technologies and services). ”
"Removing all designated China (IT technologies and services) from every U.S. network, if it were possible, would be prohibitively costly. He added.
Jack Corrigan at the hearing C-SPAN video screenshot
In recent years, the United States has continued to suppress Chinese companies represented by Huawei and ZTE, excluding them from the list of U.S. telecommunications infrastructure providers, claiming that their products may "hide spyware" and "transmit U.S. personal data back to China" under the pretext of so-called "national security threats".
In order to compensate telecom service operators in rural America, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has launched a "replacement plan", and the US Congress allocated $1.9 billion to fund the plan in 2020. However, the cost of replacing the equipment has proven to be much higher, and the FCC says the program faces a shortfall of about $3.1 billion.
Corrigan admitted at the hearing that if the program is expanded to Chinese hardware suppliers other than Huawei and ZTE, the funding gap will only continue to widen. "It is therefore critical that policymakers prohibit procurement and 'remove' funds against industries, networks and use cases where violations pose the greatest risk to national security," he added. ”
Nazak Nikakhtar, who also participated in the hearing and served at the U.S. Commerce Department during the Trump administration, claimed that the U.S. was "dragging its feet" rather than "following the rules and meticulously enforcing the details" in the total ban on Chinese hardware and software.
Nazak Nikakhtar participates in the hearing Screenshot of the C-SPAN video
"The authority of the law exists, the ability exists, but the will does not exist in everything from industry to government. The more he talked, the more he argued, the only way to reduce the cost of the economy was to stipulate that the entire industry could not use Chinese components, and to "gradually implement [this measure] so that the economy could adjust."
Another witness at the scene, Ivan Tsarynny, the chief executive of Feroot Security, a data protection intelligence software company, also said that some apps "collect a lot of data from American users."
Iván Tsarini at the hearing Screenshot of the C-SPAN video
It is worth mentioning that at the hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee of the United States Congress the day before (January 31), Tom Cotton, a well-known "anti-China congressman" and Republican Senator from Arkansas, repeatedly digressed and forced TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi to ask "nationality issues", which aroused the anger of American netizens and even scolded him for ranking first on the hot search list of social media.
In March last year, Zhou Shouzi also encountered a similar experience at a U.S. congressional hearing, which carried out the inference of guilt to the end and repeated nonsensical questions, which not only made TikTok American users laugh, but also fully demonstrated to the world that there is no lower limit to American political showmanship.
Cotton and Chow were funded
In response to the relevant situation and questions, the spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry has previously responded that to this day, the US side is still abusing state power to suppress Chinese companies on the grounds of so-called "national security" without any evidence. This is blatant economic and technological bullying, a blatant denial of the market economy principle that the US has always flaunted, and a hypocrisy of the so-called fair competition of the US. China once again urges the US to stop the erroneous practice of generalizing the concept of national security and politicizing economic issues, and to provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies to operate normally in the United States. China will continue to support relevant Chinese enterprises in safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law.
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