China’s tech infiltration poses an urgent national security risk

Totalitarian regimes cannot tolerate criticism, and China is no exception. The Chinese Communist Party’s Great Firewall is not just about restricting information within its borders — it is a deliberate effort to suppress dissent worldwide.

Now, China has a new tool for repression: DeepSeek, an AI model built using U.S. chips. Weak export controls under the Biden administration allowed China to achieve an artificial intelligence breakthrough once thought to be years away.

Competition with China isn’t a game. It’s time to stop letting Beijing gain an unfair advantage, whether through illicit means or simply by ceding ground.

Like TikTok, DeepSeek is poised to become a propaganda tool for the CCP. The model is already censoring content deemed a threat to “state power,” including references to Tiananmen Square, Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution, and even Winnie the Pooh. This level of content control — extending beyond information to influence minds — poses a direct and urgent threat to U.S. national security.

The Chinese Communist Party has repeatedly used technology to target U.S. interests. For years, Americans have downloaded TikTok, unaware that the app functions as Chinese spyware. This malware collects and shares user data with the CCP, tracking contacts, photos, search histories, and even keystrokes. As a result, Beijing has access to vast amounts of Americans’ metadata. From a national security standpoint, this is alarming. The CCP now holds data on military installations, population centers, and critical infrastructure — essentially a detailed map with targets marked.

Even more troubling are the cybersecurity risks uncovered in DeepSeek. An Epoch Times investigation found that DeepSeek stores user data on China-based servers. One company discovered the AI model transmits information to China Mobile, a state-owned telecom giant. A separate analysis by cybersecurity firm Wiz revealed that DeepSeek suffered a major data breach, exposing chat histories, secret keys, and other sensitive information. These security failures make clear that China cannot be trusted with our advanced technology.

The threat doesn’t stop there. ByteDance, TikTok’s CCP-affiliated parent company, uses the app to promote pro-China propaganda while suppressing anti-CCP content. A Rutgers University study confirmed that TikTok amplifies content favorable to the CCP while down-ranking videos that contradict its agenda. Another CCP-linked app, RedNote, is gaining traction in the U.S. and will likely follow the same pattern. This psychological warfare must end. The U.S. cannot allow Beijing to continue exploiting American users through predatory technology.

That’s why I’ve introduced the China Technology Transfer Control Act, which would prevent China’s military from acquiring sensitive U.S. technology and intellectual property through export controls. My bill would also sanction foreign entities that sell prohibited U.S. technology to the PRC.

We can’t continue to let our foremost foreign adversary perform psychological manipulation on Americans or allow it to collect troves of our sensitive, personal information. My bill puts up guardrails to keep the CCP from acquiring increasingly advanced U.S. technologies and developing more software like DeepSeek R1.

The Biden-Harris administration did not do enough to protect America’s most sensitive technology. The CCP knows that, which is why any U.S. technology that ends up in the hands of the CCP can be weaponized against us. We must protect our advancements and ensure Americans — not the CCP — reap their benefits.

Competition with China isn’t a game. It’s time to stop letting Beijing gain an unfair advantage, whether through illicit means or simply by ceding ground. We need decisive action now to safeguard our leadership in technological innovation — not just for today but for generations to come.