Biden’s latest blows against China on hackers and security

The Biden Administration in its last month is taking decisions against the People’s Republic of China and the threat of extensive hacking on American territory before Donald Trump takes office in the White House. According to information gathered by Il Foglio, at the moment the concern is that Trump, despite his past very harsh statements against the Chinese leadership, may move to a less security approach, and with aggressive policies only on a commercial level. The Commerce Department made a preliminary determination last week that China Telecom Americas, the main U.S. subsidiary of state giant China Telecom Corporation, poses national security risks and gave the company 30 days to respond to the concerns.

The threat of a ban comes after what has been called “the most massive attack on telecommunications infrastructure in American history”, which was little talked about in the European media but whose confirmation came shortly before the US elections in November. According to investigators, the complex cyber attack, which began in 2022, was conducted by a group of Chinese hackers called Salt Typhoon, compromised devices such as routers and switches managed by American giants such as AT&T and Verizon and allowed intelligence to Beijing to obtain recordings of telephone conversations and messages with a compromise that in recent months has concentrated in the area of ​​the federal capital Washington, perhaps even affecting those who were then the presidential candidates. But the extent of Salt Typhoon’s operations, both the FBI and the American National Security Agency have explained several times, is not yet clear to investigators. Now the White House has sent the first letter to China Telecom Americas, and made sure that the matter became public – the first to talk about it was veteran national security journalist David E. Sanger in the New York Times – so that the next Trump Administration cannot ignore the issue.

Already in 2021, the Federal Communications Commission had stripped China Telecom Americas of all licenses for the provision of ordinary telephone services in the United States, but had not canceled China Telecom’s presence in American networks “and the power to peek into internet traffic and telephone. This capability would be eliminated by order from the Commerce Department, provided the Trump Administration accepts it,” Sanger wrote.

Meanwhile, the Departments of Commerce, Justice and Defense have opened three separate investigations into TP-Link, a Chinese company from Shenzhen that produces routers for the majority of the American population and also for several government agencies. Yesterday the Wall Street Journal, in an exclusive article, wrote that the investigations could lead to “a ban on the sale of TP-Link routers in the United States next year, according to people familiar with the matter.” Another action that some believe Trump will be able to use to negotiate with the Beijing leadership. According to some Wall Street Journal sources, TP-Link routers do not appear to be linked to Salt Typhoon’s intrusions against American telecommunications companies, “but the Biden Administration’s investigations into the company appear to have accelerated in light of the intrusions discovered recently.” The last major forceful action against Chinese technology in America for national security reasons occurred in 2019, when Trump himself ordered the elimination of Huawei products from American infrastructure. Today, however, the world is different, and Trump says that with leader Xi Jinping he can “solve the world’s problems”. A first radical change of pace occurred on TikTok, the social network owned by the Chinese Bytedance which many, including in the American Congress, and even within the future Trump Administration, consider the armed wing of the Chinese hybrid war. Two days ago, right before meeting TikTok CEO Shou Chew at Mar-a-Lago, he said that the social network had “a special place” in his heart. With perhaps no coincidence in timing, yesterday the American Supreme Court, still shaped by Trump’s three appointments from the previous Administration, announced that it had accepted the appeals and that it will examine the law that imposes a nationwide ban on the app if it fails to ensure a non-Chinese buyer by January 19th. A nice favor for Trump and a nice shot at starting a negotiation with Xi Jinping.

• Giulia Pompili

• She was born on July 4th. A journalist at Il Foglio for more than a decade, he writes mainly about East Asia, Japan and the Koreas, China and its relations with the rest of the world, but also about security, defense and international politics. She is the author of the weekly newsletter Katane, the first in Italian on the Indo-Pacific area, and has written three books: “Under the same sky. Japan, Taiwan and Korea, Beijing’s rivals who are making Asia great” , “To the heart of Italy. How Russia and China are trying to conquer the country” with Valerio Valentini (both for Mondadori), and “Beautiful to die for. The dark side of K-pop” (Rizzoli Lizard). He is third dan in kendo.