The U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) issued subpoenas to three Chinese state-owned telecom companies – China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, after they did not respond to a formal bipartisan congressional request for information sent on March 4. These subpoenas require compliance by May 7, 2025, as part of an ongoing investigation into whether these companies are still operating in the country in ways that could affect national security and the privacy of Americans’ data.
The Committee noted that “should the companies continue to withhold cooperation, the Committee is prepared to consider further steps to ensure accountability and transparency.”
“These companies were blocked from U.S. networks because of their direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party,” John Moolenaar, a Republican from Michigan and Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party chairman, said in a Thursday media statement. “The American people deserve to know if Beijing is quietly using state-owned firms to infiltrate our critical infrastructure.”
He highlighted that the CCP’s refusal to play by the rules—and these companies’ refusal to provide basic transparency—is unacceptable. “Congress will not stand idly by while the Chinese government exploits loopholes to threaten our national security.”
“China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom don’t just threaten U.S. national security—they’ve also blatantly defied a lawful congressional investigation,” Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat Representative from Illinois and Ranking Member, pointed out. “With these bipartisan subpoenas, they now face a clear choice: comply with the law or face the consequences. As the Chinese Communist Party wages aggressive cyberattacks and undermines Americans’ privacy, we will accept nothing less than full compliance. Chinese state-owned entities are not above the law.”
The Committee is investigating what activities these companies are conducting in the U.S., such as maintaining network Points of Presence (PoPs), data centers, or cloud-related services, and the risks these activities could pose to national security. While the Committee continues to gather facts, this action underscores the growing bipartisan concern in Congress about the risk posed by state-owned enterprises with ties to foreign intelligence services.
Although the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) previously barred all three companies from providing licensed telecom services in the U.S., public reporting and intelligence have raised concerns that they may still maintain equipment, software, and cloud infrastructure on American soil that could threaten US national security.
Commenting on the development, Aaron Strong, lead cybersecurity analyst at Syniverse, wrote in an emailed statement that “Even though these companies no longer hold telecom licenses in the U.S., they still operate openly through cloud services, internet routing, and potentially in the shadows through affiliates or subsidiaries. That’s where the most sensitive data flows (PII, enterprise files, communication metadata), and not over traditional telecom lines.”
Strong added that “the real concern isn’t just what we see, it’s what we can’t: foreign access [is] embedded so deeply into our infrastructure that full removal would be economically unrealistic.”
News agency Reuters detailed that in three similar letters dated April 23 notifying the companies of the subpoenas, Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi said the select committee had received information indicating the companies ‘may continue to maintain network Points of Presence, data center access, and cloud-related offerings in the United States, potentially through subsidiaries or affiliates.’
The bipartisan move comes as lawmakers continue to express concern over the Chinese telecoms’ U.S. operations following high-profile Chinese-led cyberattacks, including Volt Typhoon, which the FBI said has allowed China to gain access to American telecommunications, energy, water, and other critical infrastructure.
A spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington said in a statement: “We oppose the U.S. over-stretching the concept of national security, using national apparatus and long-arm jurisdiction to bring down Chinese companies.”
The Reuters article quoting a committee spokesperson said that despite the FCC ban on all three companies operating licensed telecom infrastructure in the U.S., they have continued to run equipment, software, and cloud-based systems in the country that do not require licenses and thus avoid FCC oversight.
“The committee has received third-party private sector reporting and intelligence indicating these platforms have enabled cyber intrusions, data theft, and potential sabotage of U.S. infrastructure,” the spokesperson said, without providing further details.
Apart from investigating attacks by Chinese state telecoms on critical infrastructure networks, the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security and the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the CCP released last September a joint investigative report, highlighting a growing threat to U.S. economic and homeland security from the CCP. The report outlines strategies for how the U.S. can address the risks posed by the CCP’s maritime activities and promote secure global maritime infrastructure.
Before that, members of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security called for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Energy (DOE) to declassify information about the national security threats posed by unmanned aerial systems (UAS), or drones, from the People’s Republic of China, notably those by Da Jiang Innovations (DJI) and Autel Robotics.
On Thursday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) called for public assistance in reporting information related to the People’s Republic of China-affiliated cyber activity publicly tracked as ‘Salt Typhoon,’ which involves the compromise of multiple U.S. telecommunications companies. Issued via the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the announcement seeks details, especially regarding individuals linked to the campaign
