NEW ANTI-CHINA BILL

Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Josh Hawley (Mo.) announced their intention on Thursday to introduce a bill that would ban U.S. officials from using products from Chinese companies deemed national security threats, such as telecom groups Huawei and ZTE.

The Countering Chinese Attempts at Snooping Act would prohibit federal employees from conducting official business through technology from companies deemed by the State Department to be under the control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The bill would require the State Department to create a list of CCP-supported companies that could pose a threat, particularly those that could be conducting espionage.

In announcing the legislation, the senators specifically pointed to concerns around use of platforms run by Huawei and ZTE, which produce 5G wireless equipment, and by Chinese media conglomerate Tencent.

“Companies like Tencent and Huawei are espionage operations for the Chinese Communist party, masquerading as telecom companies for the 21st century,” Cruz said in a statement. “Prohibiting the use of these platforms and stopping taxpayer dollars from being used to capitalize Chinese espionage infrastructure are common sense measures to protect American national security.”

Cruz noted that “these are just some of the measures we will have to take as the United States reevaluates its relationship with China and the CCP.”

Hawley was also critical of the Chinese groups, calling Tencent a “glorified surveillance arm” of the CCP.