House Passes Undersea Cable Control Act
The House passed the Undersea Cable Control Act (HR-1189) Monday on a voice vote under suspension of the rules, as expected (see 2303270063). The measure would require the State Department to develop a strategy to “eliminate the availability to foreign…
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adversaries,” including China, “of goods and technologies capable of supporting undersea cables.” It would also mandate the U.S. seek bilateral agreements with allied nations to bar exporting technology to foreign adversaries that would support undersea cables. It’s important the U.S. not allow foreign adversaries “to catch up to us in any way whatsoever, especially China,” said lead HR-1189 sponsor Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla. Undersea cables are “a backbone” for international digital communications, “things you don’t want China getting ahold of.” The U.S. “derives significant benefits from its leading position in global” undersea cable networks, but “in recent years Chinese companies” heavily subsidized by the Chinese Communist Party “started investing heavily in owning and supplying” those cables, Mast said: “This is not just an economic issue” because a bigger Chinese presence in undersea cables will make the network “unsecure” and “they weaponize all forms of telecommunication that they can.”