Krishnamoorthi, Moolenaar Send Letters to PRC-Based Telecommunications Companies to Address Concerns About Potential Activities in the United States
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party sent letters to executives at three telecommunications companies based in the People’s Republic of China to address national security concerns about their potential activities in the United States, which threaten the security and privacy of Americans' communications and networks.
In the letters, sent to Wesley Liu of China Unicom (Americas) Corporation, Hui Zhao of China Telecom (Americas) Corporation, and He Biao of China Mobile International Limited, the Select Committee requests information about the companies’ continued operations in the United States to assess the risks such activities pose to American national security.
The lawmakers write: “Reports indicate that [the company’s] network infrastructure has been leveraged by PRC-affiliated cybercriminals to facilitate large-scale data theft, often involving critical personal, corporate, and government data. The illegal data trade network, estimated to be worth over 150 billion yuan, continues to thrive due to the ease with which threat actors exploit international communication channels.”
The Select Committee, therefore, requests detailed information about the companies’ continued operations in the United States. Specifically, the Select Committee requests that the companies provide the following information by March 31st, 2025:
1) Documents and records that provide a complete and comprehensive record of all of China Unicom’s physical or virtual infrastructure and related offerings in the United States.
a) Please produce documents and records that provide a comprehensive and detailed explanation of the PoPs, data center facilities, partnerships, and other physical or virtual infrastructure that China Unicom and its subsidiaries and affiliates operate within the United States.
2) All documents, records, agreements, contracts, or similar materials between China Unicom or one of its subsidiaries or affiliates to provide internet, cloud connectivity, or enterprise services to customers in the United States.
a) These documents and records should include all contracts, agreements, or similar materials related to direct connect services with major U.S. cloud providers.
3) All documents, records, and communications related to any internal or external investigations, audits, or incident reports conducted in the past three years regarding inadvertent or intentional rerouting of U.S. internet traffic through Chinese networks or unauthorized data access at China Unicom or one of its subsidiaries or affiliates.
4) All documents, records, and communications related to your company’s compliance with the FCC revocation order and any other relevant instructions from U.S. agencies, including timelines and correspondence.
5) All documents, records, and communications related to all protocols your company has in place to prevent unauthorized access, interception, or manipulation of data traversing your U.S. networks, including any cloud computing services operated by China Unicom. Explain any steps taken to ensure U.S. customer data is stored and protected in compliance with American laws.
6) PRC government contracts:
a) Does your company, its parent or any affiliate or subsidiary of your company or its parent have any current contracts with the PRC government? If so, please produce a copy of all such agreements.
b) Has your company, its parent or any affiliate or subsidiary of your company or its parent had any contracts with the PRC government over the last five years? If so, please produce a copy of all such agreements.
c) Has your company entered into any research agreements with any entity that is subject to the direction or control of the PRC government or one of its organs? If so, please produce documents and information sufficient to provide detailed information about such research agreements.
d) Has the PRC government —through a contractual mechanism, regulatory requirement, or formal or informal request, or any other means— ever requested that you or your parent or a subsidiary or affiliate of your company or your parent company modify the products or services provided by your company, its parent, or a subsidiary or affiliate of your company or its parent? Please produce documents and information sufficient to explain the modification requested and the reason for such modification.
e) Has your company or its parent or an affiliate or subsidiary of your company or its parent received any PRC government or CCP awards, honors, or subsidies of any kind? Please produce documentation of the award, honor, or subsidy and records verifying the total amount received and conditions of receipt, if any.
7) Collaboration with PRC military, intelligence authorities or blacklisted entities:
a) Please describe with specificity any engagement, partnership, research or contractual relationship, or other relationship between your company (or parent/subsidiary/affiliate) and any of the following. For each relationship, produce documents or information sufficient to identify the key officials with whom your company (parent/subsidiary/affiliate) engaged. Please also produce all documents describing such engagement, research, or contractual or other formal relationship.
i) The People’s Liberation Army and any of its components or subordinate entities;
ii) The Ministry of National Defense and any component or subordinate entities;
iii) The Central Military Commission and any component or subordinate entities;
iv) The Ministry of State Security and any component or subordinate entities; or
v) The Ministry of Public Security and any component or subordinate entities.
b) Please list all meetings that your company (or parent/subsidiary/affiliate) has had with officials from any of the above-listed entities in the past five years, including the names and titles of all relevant participants.
c) Does your company (or parent/subsidiary/affiliate) have any contractual relationships— including customer agreements, supplier or sub-tier supplier agreements, or research collaborations—with any PRC entities listed on a U.S. government blacklist, including the Section 1260H of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Entity List, Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List, Commerce Department's Military End User List, Executive Order 14059, Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List, Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex (NS-CMIC) Companies List, etc.? If so, please produce all such agreements.
d) Has your company (or parent/subsidiary/affiliate) collaborated with any PRC entities on defense or intelligence related research? If so, please describe the nature of that collaboration and produce all relevant documentation establishing or governing that relationship.
e) Has your company (or parent/subsidiary/affiliate) purchased any products from U.S. companies that require an export license? If so, please produce all relevant documentation related to such purchases, including licensing information and information related to the end use of such products.
f) Has your company participated in any programs, partnerships, collaborations, or other initiatives associated with China’s Military-Civil Fusion strategy? If so, please produce all documents related to such participation and the names of the individuals and organizations with whom that participation occurred.
g) Has your company participated in any programs, partnerships, collaborations, or other initiatives associated with China’s Belt and Road Initiative? If so, please produce all documents related to such participation and the names of the individuals and organizations with whom that participation occurred.
8) Chinese Communist Party links:
a) Please produce a list of all employees, the company’s parents, and affiliates who are members of the CCP.
b) Please produce a list of all individuals on your company (or its parent/subsidiary/affiliates) internal CCP committee. Please identify the leadership of the committee including names and titles.
c) Do any of your employees who are CCP members hold a position in any CCP party organizing body at the national, state, or local level? Please identify the relevant individuals, their positions at your company (or parents/subsidiary/affiliate), and their role in the relevant Party entity.
d) Please describe with specificity all engagements your company (or parent/subsidiary/affiliate etc.) has had with the CCP and its representative bodies. Please produce a list of all meetings with CCP national or regional officials within the last five years. Please include the nature of the engagement, topic(s) discussed or addressed, the names of the corporate representatives and CCP officials who attended the relevant engagement, and their respective titles.
Read the full letter to China Unicom (Americas) Corporation HERE.
Read the full letter to China Telecom (Americas) Corporation HERE.
Read the full letter to China Mobile International Limited HERE.
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