[Free Beacon] The Trump administration on Thursday sought to "revoke and terminate" licenses that permit a Chinese company to provide telecommunication services to and from the United States.
The Department of Justice said in a release that it "identified substantial and unacceptable national security and law enforcement risks" associated with China Telecom, the U.S. subsidiary of China's state-owned telecommunications company. It recommended the Federal Communications Commission revoke licenses allowing the company to operate in the United States.
China's communications networks have received increased scrutiny under the Trump administration, which has been pressuring allies to cancel their partnerships with companies tied to the communist regime, including Huawei. The Trump administration said China uses the telecommunication corporations and other state-controlled entities to conduct spy operations aimed at infiltrating U.S. networks.
"Today, more than ever, the life of the nation and its people runs on our telecommunications networks," John C. Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a statement. "The security of our government and professional communications, as well as of our most private data, depends on our use of trusted partners from nations that share our values and our aspirations for humanity. Today's action is but our next step in ensuring the integrity of America's telecommunications systems."
The effort to revoke authorities originally granted by the Federal Communications Commission comes in the wake of repeated efforts by China to conduct hacking operations in the United States. |