In a rare moment for a U.S. congressional body, the House of Representatives’ Select Committee on China exercised subpoena powers in a bipartisan effort to compel three Chinese telecom giants to answer questions related to security concerns.
The committee, which seeks to “build consensus on the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party,” subpoenaed China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicorn to force them to cooperate with an investigation into their potential access to American data, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing subpoena letters.
Lawmakers Raise Concerns Over Companies’ Potential Access to US Data
In letters dated April 23 that notified the Chinese telecom titans of the subpoenas, committee Republican chair John Moolenaar and ranking Democratic member Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi said the committee was provided information indicating that the companies “may continue to maintain network Points of Presence, data center access, and cloud-related offerings in the United States, potentially through subsidiaries or affiliates.”
Even before the letters were sent out, U.S. lawmakers and regulators were already concerned that the companies were capable of accessing IP and personal data stored in clouds.
They were also worried that the Chinese companies may provide such information to Beijing or that they were capable of blocking Americans from accessing their stored data.
Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi called on the Chinese telecom giants to cooperate fully by May 7.
“We oppose the U.S. overstretching the concept of national security, using national apparatus and long-arm jurisdiction to bring down Chinese companies,” a spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington told the outlet in a statement.
If the companies fail to respond to the letters, Congress may move to find them in contempt.
Select Committee Has Been Monitoring China’s Activity
The House Select Committee on China has been keeping a close eye on the CCP over the years.
Just last week, the Committee said the Chinese government utilizes advanced chip technology “to monitor Uyghur Muslims through cameras, facial recognition, and biometric data.”
Such systems were supposedly being used to “flag ‘suspicious’ behavior” among the marginalized group, including activities like “growing a beard or using WhatsApp.” The systems were also allegedly used to “track women of childbearing age for forced sterilization.”
Beijing has been under fire over the years for its questionable “centers” established for Uyghurs and other Muslims, especially those in Xinjiang. The Chinese government has insisted that such internment camps were centers where Uyghurs could learn vocational skills.
However, researchers, advocates and members of the diaspora have said the detention facilities were rampant with human rights abuses.
Clamor Over DeepSeek
The Committee also published a report on Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, whose AI chatbot rocked the U.S. tech stock market to the core in January when it was launched.
A bipartisan report released this month alleged that DeepSeek was being used by the Chinese government to spy, steal, and subvert U.S. export control restrictions.
DeepSeek allegedly “covertly funnels American user data to the Chinese Communist Party, manipulates information to align with CCP propaganda, and was trained using material unlawfully obtained from U.S. AI models.”
With three telecom giants now involved in the Committee’s monitoring, the pressure is mounting on China to prove lawmakers’ claims otherwise.
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