Ajit Pai has stepped down as Federal Communications Commission Chairman (FCC), but he had some parting words of warning regarding China.
For the last few years, the US and China have been engaged in a devastating trade war. US officials have also targeted a number of Chinese companies over cybersecurity and national security concerns.
In an interview with Reuters, Pai warned of “injection of malware into networks here in the United States or around the world. There are a number of bad things that can happen when insecure equipment is used to handle sensitive information.”
Those concerns led the Trump administration to ban Huawei and ZTE, as well as take action against China Telecom. US officials pressured allies to take similar action, many of whom did. It remains to be seen if the Biden administration will continue to restrict Chinese telecom firms, but Pai is warning against taking Beijing lightly in this arena.
“The Chinese Communist Party has a very determined world view. They want to dominate this space and exert their will — even beyond their own borders,” Pai said Tuesday. “That is a serious threat not just to internet freedom but to national security for us and for many of our allies.”