House Republicans raise concerns about new Chinese tech companies

Two Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday raised concerns about security and privacy threats posed by emerging Chinese tech companies, specifically zeroing in on electronics group Xiaomi.

Committee ranking member John Katko (R-N.Y.) and Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), the top Republican on the panel’s cybersecurity subcommittee, sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas highlighting concerns over the increasing Chinese threats in the information technology space. 

“The security of our nation’s information and communications technology (ICT) supply chain is critical to nearly every aspect of our lives,” Katko and Garbarino wrote. “Over the past several years, we have seen an alarming increase in threats to our ICT supply chain from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They have been engaged in a multi-decade effort to lie, cheat, and steal their way to global dominance, in part by compromising our ICT backbone.” 

he lawmakers raised questions over whether new Chinese companies could seek to take the place of telecom giant Huawei, which was largely blocked from doing business in the U.S. by the Trump administration due to concerns stemming from its alleged ties to the Chinese government. 

“Our committee remains concerned about how your respective departments plan to address new and emerging Chinese companies seeking to fill the Huawei void,” Katko and Garbarino wrote. “We simply cannot allow more nefarious Chinese ICT products to enter U.S. markets.”

The lawmakers zeroed in on Chinese electronics group Xiaomi, which manufacturers mobile devices and laptops, among other products, with Katko and Garbarino noting they were “alarmed” at the potential for the company to fill the “Huawei void” in the United States. 

“We share grave concerns that Xiaomi poses a significant threat to the privacy of any of its users through its lineup of smartphones, laptops, smart watches, and other consumer-facing products,” the lawmakers wrote. “In many ways, data has become the modern-day currency of homeland security and we must take threats to the data integrity of the free world seriously.” 

The lawmakers asked that both Raimondo and Mayorkas outline steps their agencies are taking to secure the supply chain of critical information technologies and whether there were any plans to limit Xiaomi’s presence in the U.S. market.