Lawmakers push Google to reconsider strategic partnership with Chinese telecom company

A bipartisan group of lawmakers raised concerns on Wednesday about the national security implications of a new strategic partnership between Google and Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications company.

The lawmakers argued in a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai that Chinese telecommunication companies like Huawei have ties to the Chinese Communist Party, which could pose “a serious risk to U.S. national security and American consumers.”

The U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released a report on national security risks that Chinese telecommunications companies posed in 2012, and officials have since raised concerns about Huawei’s connections to the Chinese government. The leaders of six intelligence agencies testified before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in February that American citizens should not use products or services for Chinese telecom companies like Huawei.

FBI Director Christopher Wray testified that he was deeply concerned about allowing companies or entities that are beholden to foreign governments to “gain positions of power inside our telecommunications networks.”

In the letter to Pichai, the lawmakers noted that Congress is currently considering “a number of bipartisan measures” to address threats posed by Huawei. The Defending U.S. Government Communications Act would bar the U.S. government from purchasing or leasing telecommunications services from Chinese companies, and the FCC would be prohibited from purchasing Chinese telecommunication services or equipment under the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act.

“We urge (Pichai) to reconsider Google’s partnership with Huawei, particularly since (his) company recently refused to renew a key research partnership, Project Maven, with the Department of Defense,” the letter stated. “This project uses artificial intelligence to improve the accuracy of U.S. military targeting, not least to reduce civilian casualties. While we regret that Google did not want to continue a long and fruitful tradition of collaboration between the military and technology companies, we are even more disappointed that Google apparently is more willing to support the Chinese Communist Party than the U.S. military.”

The letter was signed by U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) and U.S. Reps. Mike Conway (R-TX), Liz Cheney (R-WY), and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD).