US Should Reduce Chinese Surveillance Gear at Latin American Ports, Panel Hears
The U.S. should encourage Latin American countries to stop using Chinese-made surveillance equipment at their ports, a lawmaker and a researcher said during a congressional hearing Feb. 11.
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Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., said he’s concerned that China could use Hikvision cameras and Huawei network security systems to track U.S.-bound cargo or spy on American businesses or U.S. regional military activities. Matthew Kroenig, vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, said he agrees that the equipment poses a security risk for the reasons Garbarino mentioned.
“I’d say even more broadly, if China comes to control the digital infrastructure of the 21st century in Latin America and the Global South, what does that mean for the future of democracy and human rights in those regions, what does it mean for their global alliances?” Kroenig testified before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security. “So I think this is a threat to the United States and that we should encourage regional allies to de-risk from China and to end cooperation with China and with Huawei.”
Kroenig said the U.S. should work with its allies in Europe, Japan and elsewhere to help Latin American countries find alternatives to the Chinese equipment.
Ship-to-shore cranes made by China’s Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company Limited (ZPMC) also likely pose an espionage risk at Latin American ports, said another hearing witness, Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The U.S. could stand up a program to reduce such equipment at those ports, he suggested in written testimony (all four witnesses' testimony is in the linked document).