U.S. lawmakers subpoena China telecom giants over security concerns

The leaders of a U.S. congressional committee on Wednesday moved to force China's three telecom giants to cooperate with an investigation into their alleged support for the Chinese military and government, according to letters seen by Reuters.

In a bipartisan effort, the House of Representatives' select committee on China used its seldom exercised subpoena powers in an effort to compel China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom to answer questions about whether they could exploit access to American data through their U.S. cloud and internet businesses.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers continue to express concern over the Chinese telecoms' U.S. operations following high-profile Chinese-led cyberattacks, including Volt Typhoon, which the FBI said has allowed China to gain access to American telecommunications, energy, water and other critical infrastructure.

Beijing has denied responsibility for those attacks.

A spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington said in a statement: "We oppose the U.S. over-stretching the concept of national security, using national apparatus and long-arm jurisdiction to bring down Chinese companies."

The committee's Republican chair John Moolenaar and its top Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi in March had sought the companies' responses to questions after a 2024 Reuters report that they were under U.S. Commerce Department investigation. The committee said the companies had ignored that request.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) denied China Mobile's application to provide U.S. telecommunications service in 2019 and revoked China Telecom and China Unicom's authorizations in 2021 and 2022. But the companies still have a small presence in the U.S., for example, providing cloud services and routing wholesale U.S. internet traffic.

U.S. regulators and lawmakers fear that the companies could access personal information and intellectual property stored in their clouds and provide it to the Chinese government or prevent Americans from gaining access.

In three similar letters dated April 23 notifying the companies of the subpoenas, Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi said the select committee had received information indicating the companies "may continue to maintain network Points of Presence, data center access, and cloud-related offerings in the United States, potentially through subsidiaries or affiliates."

They called for the companies' full cooperation by May 7.

The companies did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. China's embassy in Washington also did not respond immediately, but it has previously said the U.S. sought to suppress Chinese companies under "false pretexts."

A committee spokesperson said despite the FCC ban on all three companies operating licensed telecom infrastructure in the U.S., they have continued to run equipment, software, and cloud-based systems in the country that do not require licenses and thus avoid FCC oversight.

"The committee has received third-party private sector reporting and intelligence indicating these platforms have enabled cyber intrusions, data theft, and potential sabotage of U.S. infrastructure," the spokesperson said, without providing further details.

Congress could move to find the companies in contempt if they fail to respond.