China is One of the Largest Threats in the 21st Century

Floor Speech

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Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida for hosting this Special Order tonight on China.

I was watching the news today like most other folks are, and part of the news says that the tariffs are the problem and the President is the problem. That is what they are literally saying in the United States of America today.

Ladies and gentlemen, the tariffs aren't the problem and the President isn't the problem. China is the problem. They have been the problem for a long time, but nobody in the United States has been willing to confront it.

For many years, China has pursued industrial policies and unfair trade practices that include dumping, discriminatory nontariff barriers, forced technology transfer, overcapacity, and industrial subsidies, all this to champion Chinese firms and make it literally impossible for American firms to compete. People say: Well, all these jobs went to China. All these jobs went overseas.

How do you think that happened? It happened because China is not a reasonable actor. They are not playing fair. They have not been playing fair, and they have been taking advantage of the United States and other countries for a very, very long time. Finally, there is a President who is willing to confront them.

Let's talk about China as the world's largest principal IP infringer, and their government actually encourages the theft of intellectual property.

People talk about the value of these tariffs. Nobody likes the tariffs in the United States. We don't want to have to do this, but we have limited options.

They said the cost of the tariffs. Well, how about the cost, annually, of IP theft, anywhere from $225 billion to $600 billion, including counterfeit goods, pirated software, and theft of trade secrets. That is every year, regardless of any tariff in the United States. That is just what the Chinese steal, sanctioned by the Chinese Government.

Our IP-intensive industries support at least 45 million U.S. jobs. Are we going to wait until all those head to China as well? For every high-tech job in the United States, five jobs are created indirectly in a local economy.

Actually, China accounts for 87 percent of counterfeit goods seized coming into the United States. It starts making you wonder why we allow any of their goods to come into the United States.

China conducts and supports cyber intrusions into the United States' computer networks to gain access to valuable research and business information so Chinese companies can just literally copy products and processes. What are some examples? Well, just things like a vacuum cleaner to solar panel technology.

Does anybody wonder why we buy so many solar panels from China? They stole them from us, and then they are selling them back to us. Who is the fool here?

And how about the blueprints to the Boeing C-17? Anybody deployed around the world lately in military uniform? It is good to know that China has the plans.

Hackers from China with ties to the government have been accused of breaking into gas companies, steel companies, and chemical companies. A Chinese Government company was indicted for stealing the secret chemical makeup of the color white from DuPont.

China developed its J-20 fighter plane, a plane similar to Lockheed- Martin's F-22 Raptor, shortly after a Chinese national was indicted for stealing technical data from Lockheed-Martin, including plans for the Raptor.

In 2010, Google went public in announcing that it had been hacked by the Chinese Government; and in December of 2018, two Chinese nationals were charged with hacking more than 45 companies in coordination with China's state security service.

These are just a few of the cases.

Just a couple of months ago, in The Wall Street Journal, it was reported that 27 universities located across the United States were targeted by Chinese hackers due to their involvement in research of military-use maritime technology. You heard some of the speakers just recently talk about China's newfound military and naval prowess.

Let's go into some of the CFIUS reports, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. CFIUS ordered a Chinese health data analytics firm backed by Tencent to sell its majority stake in PatientsLikeMe, which helps connect people suffering from the same illness.

Why would China hack that, you wonder? Well, if you can think about any data that you have--your very, very personal data, including sicknesses that you might have--China actually wants that kind of stuff, and they don't have good intentions for it.

CFIUS blocked the $1.2 billion purchase of MoneyGram, a money transfer firm, by Ant Financial, an Alibaba affiliate, on national security grounds.

In 2017, American officials warned that DJI, a leading drone maker, was probably sending data on critical infrastructure back to China's Government. The U.S. Army barred DJI drones from its bases. But if you don't know you have a DJI drone and you are operating on a military base, you can probably be self-assured that China is collecting the information and you are actually helping them.

How about this? In 2018, American Government agencies were banned from using cameras made by Hikvision, the world's biggest manufacturer of closed-circuit TV kits. We actually had to ban them, and the government was buying them. They are spying on us in our own government buildings because we are buying their cameras, and we know it is happening.

It is incredible, ladies and gentlemen. China is the problem. It is not the President and it is not the tariff. It is what China does.

Then there is the race to 5G, which America must win. China is on pace to be the global leader in 5G technology. That is just how it is. They actually beat Ericsson, and now a spy state--a spy state--is on track to be the leader in 5G technology.

We simply must work with our allies to stop the introduction of Huawei equipment--that is who is making it--into foreign networks. It threatens the integrity of personal data, government secrets, military operations, and democratic principles.

When the United States military operates around the world, we use the backbone architecture oftentimes to communicate. If that backbone communications architecture has been made by Huawei, we might as well just be telling China exactly what we are doing. Our tactic, technique, procedures are all given up immediately to China.

Social media, medical services, gaming, location services, payment, and banking information, every single thing that happens over the internet, if it is happening over a Huawei 5G network, they are knowing about it.

The Pentagon, just last month, warned of ``near persistent data transfer back to China.'' Near persistent, so just continuous data transfer. And they use this information to coerce and punish not only their own citizens, but people in countries around the world.

And again, the 2017 intelligence law in China requires any organization or citizen to support, assist, and cooperate with the security services of China's communist government.

Now, let's be clear here. We are not talking about the Chinese people, but we are talking about the Communist Party in China. We are talking about their leadership, and we are talking about their government. That is who we are talking about there.

Again, the Chinese dominance in 5G threatens future U.S. military operations. We will not be able to operate. We will have to set up our own network everywhere we go where Huawei is responsible for 5G networking. These are just national security risks that happen in Europe and across Africa.

You need to know, as well, that Huawei's equipment does not interoperate with any other vendor. So if you are using Huawei equipment, even if it is 4G, it doesn't interoperate with anything, so you are forced to buy Huawei for 5G if you want to advance.

Other people have talked about China's global influence--unrestricted warfare--in every single paradigm.

Ladies and gentlemen, the tariffs are not the problem. Unfortunately, China has been in an economic war with us for about four decades.

The President is not the problem. China and this malign behavior to us and democracies around the globe are the problem.

I am glad we are finally talking about it. I hope that the rest of our colleagues here in the House of Representatives will join us in researching and becoming aware and informed about China's activities and then supporting policies that deal with China's malign activities in our universities, technology transfer, and--you name it.

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