US probes China's telecom 'espionage': 3 companies under scrutiny
US China
United States' scrutiny of China continues to intensify. According to Reuters, the US is investigating China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom for potential espionage.
Reuters suggests that this probe is happening on the sidelines without official confirmation. The US has recently strengthened oversight of China, with multiple tariffs imposed on specific Chinese goods. While AI has been at the forefront of US scrutiny of China, similar tariffs are underway. The companies are accused of exploiting access to American data and sharing it with Beijing.
The three companies have long been in the US crosshairs. Regulatory authorities denied China Mobile's application to provide telephone service in 2019, and similarly, for the other two companies in 2021 & 2022, respectively. The companies were later barred from providing broadband service. According to the regulators, 'serious national security and law enforcement risks' are involved. Investigators are also probing the companies' cloud offerings.
The government agencies cited nine instances where China Telecom misrouted China Telecom misrouted internet traffic through China. This leaves the US vulnerable to risks of being intercepted & manipulated. China Telecom has denied the government's allegations, stating that routing problems are not intentional.
The Chinese embassy in Washington has voiced concerns over the US' growing scrutiny. Chinese Premier Li Qiang hit back at the US and the European Union on claims that Chinese firms benefit from unfair subsidies and 'flood' global markets with cheap goods. These comments came during his address at a World Economic Forum meeting in Dalian.
'China's production of advanced electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and photovoltaic products, first met out domestic demand, but also enrich global supply', he said in his opening remarks. 'The rapid rise of China's new industries is rooted in our own unique comparative advantages', he added.