Promoting United States International Leadership in 5G Act of 2021

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this important bipartisan legislation, the Promoting United States International Leadership in 5G Act.

Mr. Speaker, the Chinese Communist Party does not hide the fact that they will do whatever it takes to become the prominent global power, especially by taking control of the world's 5G networks. The CCP's espionage tactics, theft of U.S. intellectual property, and cyber hacking threaten our national security and our competitiveness in the international community. Allowing the CCP to establish the global standards for 5G and push countries to adopt 5G technology from CCP- linked companies like Huawei will only increase the amount of control and influence that the CCP has globally.

This bill provides increased cooperation between the United States and our allies to identify and counter security risks posed by Chinese Communist Party-linked companies in 5G. In addition, the bill requires the State Department to develop a diplomatic strategy to increase engagement with partners at the international standards setting bodies, such as the International Telecommunications Union, ITU, which sets global standards for technologies such as 5G.

There is an important upcoming election at the ITU which will decide the future of global telecommunications for years to come. It is imperative that we pass this bill today so that the United States and our allies can put up a united front against a Russian- and CCP-aligned candidate for Secretary General of the ITU. Russia's campaign to elect a Russian national, who is a former Huawei executive, to serve as the secretary general of the ITU is indicative of Russia's and China's efforts to use the international organization to promote their interests and malign influence.

The United States should ensure that we are coordinated in driving support for the United States candidate, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, for the Secretary General of the ITU, but the State Department should also be engaging on the important down-ballot races at the ITU.

There are four other posts of significance within the ITU's leadership structure, including the director of the ITU Development Sector, ITU-D. The ITU-D plays a particularly vital role in supporting multilateral cooperation for fair and open internet governance through trustworthy deployment of digital technologies in the developing world. The United States must be doing everything we can to ensure Russian and Chinese malign influence does not grow. This bill will help.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I thank Ranking Member Mike McCaul and Representative Cuellar for their work on this legislation. This bill will help ensure that the United States is doing all we can to stop Russian and Chinese malign influence taking control of the world's 5G networks.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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