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‘I Don’t Buy It’: Both Democrats and Republicans don’t believe TikTok’s pledge to protect Americans from CCP

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TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew had a hard time smoothing things over with both Democrats and Republicans during his Thursday testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. both parties expressed cynicism towards the notion that TikTok would protect U.S. data and American users of the app from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Specifically, lawmakers and regulators are concerned “about Chinese laws which require companies based in the country, such as TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, to provide the CCP with access to user data and other proprietary information” reports National Review.

National Review noted that TikTok was reportedly told by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., an inter-agency panel consisting of nine cabinet-level officials, to sell its stake in the social-media app or risk a ban in the U.S.

Before Chew testified on Thursday, China said it strongly opposed ByteDance’s divestment from the social-media platform. China’s Commerce Ministry said that a sale or divestiture of TikTok would involve exporting technology and had to be approved by the Chinese government, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Democrat and ranking member, Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. of New Jersey said Chew’s solution of a $1.5 billion plan nicknamed ‘Project Texas’ which allegedly would “wall off U.S. operations, with all data being stored here” is unacceptable.

Project Texas would give U.S. company Oracle based in Texas the ability to access TikTok’s algorithms in order to flag issues for government inspectors. “I still believe that the Beijing Communist government will still control and have the ability to influence what you do. So this idea, this Project Texas is simply not acceptable,” Pallone said.

“Look, the impression you are giving, and I can understand why you are giving that impression, is that you are just performing some kind of public service here. Right? I mean this is a benign company that is just performing a public service. Maybe that’s not what you are saying, but I don’t buy it,” Pallone continued.

Democrat Marc Veasey of Texas stated to Chew, “A lot of your evasiveness today in answering many of these questions really disturbs me.” The committee’s chairwoman, Republican Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers from Washington opened the hearing by exposing Chew off the bat: “You state that ByteDance is not beholden to the CCP. Again, each of the individuals I listed are affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party.”

 

 

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Elections

Report: Beijing’s military hacked U.S. nuclear firm before Hunter Biden aided Chinese bid to acquire it

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A bombshell report by Just the News explains that “U.S. officials were acutely aware that Beijing was trying to obtain America’s premiere nuclear reactor technology, including through illicit hacking, months before Hunter Biden and his business partners sought to arrange a quiet sale of an iconic U.S. reactor company to a Chinese firm, according to court records and national security experts.”

Hunter Biden attempted to assist CEFC China Energy to acquire Westinghouse, one of America’s most famous electricity and appliance brands, as well as its state-the-art AP1000 nuclear reactor.

Hunter began his work with the Chinese company in early 2016 – while Joe Biden was the sitting Vice President – memos show. According to a copy of the indictment, just 20 months earlier, his father’s Justice Department charged five members of a Chinese military hacking unit for breaching the company’s computer systems in search of intellectual property and internal strategy communications.

Just the News reports:

In May 2014, the five operatives of the People’s Liberation Army’s Unit 61398 were charged with hacking into the systems of six U.S.-based companies across different industrial sectors, including Westinghouse Electric Co., SolarWorld, United States Steel Corp., and a union. The attorney general at the time, Eric Holder, called the breach a classic case of “economic espionage.”

One operative gained access to Westinghouse’s computers in 2010 and “stole proprietary and confidential technical and design specifications related to pipes, pipe supports, and pipe routing” pertaining to the company’s advanced AP1000 nuclear reactor design, according to an indictment filed by the Department of Justice.

“Among other things, such specifications would enable a competitor to build a plant similar to the AP1000 without incurring significant research and development costs associated with designing similar pipes, pipe supports, and pipe routing systems,” the indictment reads.

Just the News notes that while there is no evidence at the moment that Hunter Biden was aware of or involved in the hacking efforts by the Chinese, documents previously released by Congress in the Biden impeachment inquiry show Hunter Biden wrote in one text message in 2017 that he believed one of the CEFC officials he worked with, Patrick Ho, was the “f—ing spy chief” of China.

Ho was later indicted in the U.S. and charged with corruption. Joe Biden’s brother James told the FBI he believed CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming had a relationship with China’s communist president.

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