U.S. Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) recently commended House of Representatives colleagues for passing the Undersea Cable Control Act.
The legislation, which Mast introduced, protects American superiority in undersea cable capabilities from China’s economic and military reach and requires the Biden Administration to develop a strategy limiting foreign adversaries like China from accessing goods and technologies capable of supporting undersea cables and establishing agreements with allies and partners to do the same.
“Whether it’s TikTok or a spy balloon, the U.S. has been caught flat-footed in countering Chinese influence,” Mast said. “We can’t let undersea cables become another example of that trend. We cannot empower the same China that wants to topple America and put communism on top to control one of the most powerful communications tools on the planet. We must protect this infrastructure and technology that Americans rely on every day.”
The legislation invokes the Export Control Reform Act – specifically Section 1752 – to restrict the export of items that could prove detrimental to the national security and the economy of the United States.
Undersea cables are a vital part of global communication infrastructures, with 99 percent of all transoceanic digital communications transporting data like the internet through these fiber optics cables. The technology contributed $649 billion to the U.S. economy in 2019 and enables transactions worth over $10 trillion daily within the American financial sector.