A Chinese company has been accused of spying on US seaports, marking another incident that has the potential to spark fresh tensions between arch-rivals China and the United States.
A recent US Congressional investigation has discovered that a Chinese business installed intelligence gathering equipment on cranes used at US seaports, potentially enabling Beijing to spy on Americans and damage vital infrastructure.
According to the findings of the Republican majorities on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the House Homeland Security Committee, ZPMC, a state-owned engineering company based in Shanghai, exerted pressure on American port authorities to grant remote access to its cranes, specifically those situated on the West Coast.
In bureaucratic usage, the term ‘West Coast’ refers to the contiguous states of California, Oregon, and Washington, although it also sometimes includes Alaska and Hawaii. Thus, potential Chinese spying in this region could be very unsettling for the US administration.
The report, produced after a year-long research, further states that “if granted, this access could potentially be extended to other [People’s Republic of China] government entities, posing a significant risk due to the PRC’s national security laws that mandate cooperation with state intelligence agencies.”
🎥 “Another day another spying attempt by China.” – @FoxBusiness
“[@HomelandGOP & Select Committee] investigation finding Chinese made cargo cranes at ports nationwide, pose an espionage risk to the United States.” ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/Gn2CveHjnw
— Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (@committeeonccp) September 14, 2024
The report further highlighted that cellular modems that were “not requested by US ports or included in contracts… [and] constitute a significant backdoor security vulnerability that undermines the integrity of port operations” were among the gadgets attached to the cranes.
Citing contract paperwork and testimonies from port operators, the study stated that “these unknown modems were believed to have been installed under the auspices of collecting usage data for the equipment.” These modems allegedly created a covert approach to gathering data and getting around firewalls that could potentially disrupt port operations, even though they were unnecessary for the cranes to operate.
If the report’s claims are authentic, it would be a massive cause for concern for the US since about 80% of the cargo cranes in American ports are owned by ZPMC.
The committee said that this dependence puts the US maritime industry “dangerously reliant on equipment and technology produced, manufactured, assembled, or installed in the PRC,” including “ship-to-shore cranes, container handling equipment, and various other critical maritime infrastructure components.”
Ship-to-shore cranes are essential for transporting cargo through US marine ports, which produce trillions of dollars worth of economic activity annually. However, since these cranes can frequently be operated remotely, someone with access to the networks could potentially harm equipment or gather intelligence from ports.
To resolve the reliance on Chinese companies, the report stated that the Harris-Biden government had, in February, promised to allocate $20 billion towards “strengthening maritime infrastructure cybersecurity, specifically addressing software and hardware vulnerabilities in ZPMC cranes.” Additionally, the White House also disclosed plans to “phase out Chinese-made port equipment and fully return crane making to the United States to deal with 200 Chinese-made cranes at U.S. ports and facilities”.
The report has been tabled when the US and China are engaged in constructive military talks to reduce tensions. Military leaders from the US and China met in Beijing over the weekend and discussed issues like Taiwan, the confrontations in the South China Sea, and the ongoing Ukraine War.
This is not the first time a Chinese company has been accused of espionage in the United States. The national security community has long been concerned about the usage of infrastructure constructed in China.
China Under The Scanner For Spying
Chinese enterprises aligned with the Chinese regime are frequently accused of spying on the United States as well as European countries.
In 2018, for instance, a Bloomberg story revealed that a prominent Chinese computer manufacturer had secretly inserted a covert “spy chip” in the motherboards of computers in the data centers of multiple prominent US corporations, such as a well-known consumer goods company, a significant cloud vendor, and the US Department of Defense. This made it possible for the Chinese government to watch them covertly.
At that time, experts and lawmakers expressed alarm that a significant portion of the hardware supporting the largest websites and data centers globally was obtained from China. They noted that this essentially meant that anything from the web-connected toasters to cell phones to the central servers and routers that drive the internet could be compromised by a single country.
Before this, ZTE Corporation and Huawei Technologies Ltd., two Chinese telecom firms with ties to the Chinese government, were also charged by the US with spying. Huawei was placed on a US trade restriction list in 2019 amid fears it could spy on Americans using its 5G technology and smartphones.
Over the last few years, China has also been accused of exploiting software to conduct cyber espionage against the United States to gain unfettered access to sensitive information in the digital world. This growing suspicion has led to US officials suspending imports of critical components from China and launching intense screening for Chinese officials hired by US-based companies.
Amid concerns over Chinese espionage in the United States, another report published earlier revealed that Chinese companies purchased several farmlands close to strategic US military installations, including some of the most strategically important military installations, such as MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida; Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California; Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg) in Fayetteville, North Carolina; and Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood) in Killeen, Texas.
Chinese spying captured the US public imagination in February 2023 when a rogue Chinese balloon flew over strategic military installations in the continental US.
However, US lawmakers have been monitoring potential spying by Beijing’s companies aligned with the Xi Jinping regime. These companies supply equipment to the US and infiltrate American infrastructure development.
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