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Intelligence panel to grill Chinese telecoms over ties to government
Top executives from two Chinese telecommunications equipment makers will face tough questions from lawmakers on Thursday about their alleged connections to the Chinese government and business operations in the United States.
The House Intelligence Committee hearing marks one of the final steps of an investigation it opened a year ago into alleged national security threats posed by Chinese telecommunications companies doing business in the United States.
Intelligence Committee hearings are typically closed off to the press and public, but Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said he wanted to make this one open so the two Chinese telecommunications companies have an opportunity to publicly address questions about their business practices.
“This is their opportunity to answer questions directly and try to alleviate any doubt that American businesses and the American intelligence community has expressed,” Rogers said in an interview with The Hill.
Rogers said the committee plans to release classified and unclassified reports on the findings of its investigation into Huawei and ZTE at the beginning of October. The Intelligence Committee chairman gave few details about what to expect in the reports, but said he believes it will answer questions about whether the companies are engaged in nefarious activities.
Rogers said the results of a preliminary review into the companies' activities last year prompted the committee to launch a full investigation last November.
“By the end of the preliminary investigation, it raised significant questions about the companies' ties to the Chinese government, especially the Communist Party in China, and what that meant for possible risks for espionage and theft,” he said. “There were serious questions that were raised and I believed we needed to get those answered.”
He did not comment further on whether he has seen evidence showing that Huawei and ZTE's equipment is being used by the Chinese government to spy on the United States.
Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, voiced similar concerns about the companies' telecommunications equipment being used as a backdoor for China to conduct espionage.
“They have the ability to get information, to listen to what you're saying, to cyberattack you and I don't want to put our country at risk from a competitive point of view, but also a national security point of view,” he said.
Ruppersberger went to China in May to meet with top Huawei executives, including the company's founder, Ren Zhengfei. The Maryland Democrat said when he questioned Ren on his previous service in the Chinese military, the Huawei founder said he was no longer connected to the military.
Huawei and ZTE haven't always been cooperative when the committee has asked for the companies to submit certain information, according to Rogers.
“They have not been as cooperative as I would have liked during the course of this investigation,” Rogers said. “I think I'll let that stand as is until the hearing.”
Charles Ding, corporate senior vice president of Huawei, and Zhu Jinyun, senior vice president of ZTE's North America and Europe operations, will testify before the committee on Thursday. Both of the companies' U.S. operations are based in Texas.
“Huawei’s integrity and the quality and security of our products are world-proven across almost 150 markets by over 500 telecom operators, including major national operators in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas,” William Plummer, a spokesman for Huawei, said in a statement to The Hill. “Huawei has welcomed the opportunity over the last 10 months to openly engage with the committee to clarify these and other facts about our company and to undo any unfortunate misperceptions.”
Huawei launched a new website this week that features information and online videos about its operations in the United States. The website also features a position paper titled “The Case for Huawei in America,” which argues that “unspecified allegations” have led to measures that block Huawei's expansion into the United States.
“The roadblock is not the American marketplace, but the U.S. government,” the executive summary of the paper states. “The question is why.”
The paper was written by Dan Steinbock, a research director of international business at the India, China and America Institute, the paper says.
On the paper's first page, Steinbock included a quotation that famed reporter Edward R. Murrow used in a report about Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
"No one familiar with the history of this country can deny that congressional committees are useful. It is necessary to investigate before legislating, but the line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one," the quote reads. "We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law."
In a company statement provided to The Hill, ZTE said it has cooperated with the committee and provided it with a “series of detailed factual responses.”
“ZTE has achieved compliance with every important international and U.S. equipment standard,” the company said. “In its testimony, ZTE will demonstrate its unique ability to help provide solutions to cybersecurity issues pending before the Congress and the executive branch.”
The Chinese embassy in Washington declined to comment on the hearing.
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