Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) are introducing a bill, the Countering Chinese Attempts at Snooping (C-CAS) Act of 2020, that would further crack down on Chinese telecoms Huawei and ZTE and any other company that the State Department identifies as controlled by the Chinese Communist Policy.
The bill would prevent federal employees from conducting any official business over platforms "run" by Huawei, ZTE, Tencent, and any other suspect tech.
The bill requires the Secretary of State to create a list of Chinese tech companies that are determined to enable the Chinese Communist Party to conduct espionage. That is the list of companies whose technology government employees are prevented from using.
It would also prevent any taxpayer dollars going to fund U.N. contracts with any suspect tech supplier.
Related: FCC Seeks Input on Excluding Foreign Tech
The FCC has already moved to prevent government broadband subsidy money going to Huawei, ZTE, and other suspect tech and has moved to revoke the licenses of some Chinese telecom nets linking to U.S. networks, and Congress is excluding them from government contract money.
"The United Nations' decision to partner with Tencent, a glorified surveillance arm of the Chinese Communist Party, is stupid and dangerous," said Hawley. "Chinese technology companies like Tencent and Huawei actively conspire with the CCP to conduct international surveillance and present an ongoing threat to the United States and our allies. American taxpayer money should not fund UN contracts that benefit the Chinese Communist Party."
“Preventing U.S. federal employees from conducting official business over platforms controlled by Chinese Communist Party-backed companies is smart policy," said Mike Rogers, chairman of 5G Action and former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. "We must look at, and fully appreciate, the threat posed by companies like Huawei, ZTE, and Tencent to America’s national and economic security. This legislation is an important step in that direction.”
