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A congressional probe revealed some Chinese-made cranes present at U.S. ports contain communications equipment, leading to potential spying concerns as they have no clear purpose or record of installation, the Wall Street Journal initially reported on Thursday (March 7).
The investigation, which was conducted by the House Committee on Homeland Security and House select committee on China, found that more than 200 Chinese-made cranes were installed at American ports amid heightened tensions between the two countries over national security. The U.S. Coast Guard had previously ordered for better cybersecurity directives for the maritime ports in relation to the Chinese-made cranes last month, CNN reported at the time.
The committee found that cellular modems capable of being used for remote communication were installed on the cranes and not documented in any contact between the U.S. ports and the Chinese crane maker ZPMC, a congressional aide with knowledge of the investigation confirmed to CNN on Thursday. The modems were already installed when U.S. port officials went to China to inspect the cranes and found to be on the ZPMC cranes by officials "on more than one occasion," the aide said.
“Our Committees’ investigation found vulnerabilities in cranes at U.S. ports that could allow the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] to not only undercut trade competitors through espionage, but disrupt supply chains and the movement of cargo, devastating our nation’s economy,” said Rep. Mark Green, the Republican chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, in a statement to CNN. “Without a swift sea-change, we will continue to gift the CCP with an easy means of infiltrating our critical infrastructure on their quest for global dominance.”
ZPMC claimed it “has always been committed to providing high-quality products and services to clients around the world" and "always strictly complies with the laws and regulations of applicable countries” in a statement shared on its website.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., denied that the cranes posed a security risk and referred to the situation as "entirely paranoia" in a statement to CNN.
“We firmly oppose the US overstretching the concept of national security and abusing national power to obstruct normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the US,” Liu said.