THE BERLIN WALL MAY BE HISTORY, BUT THE SURVEILLANCE STATE STILL THREATENS US

BY AMBASSADOR CARLA SANDS

The fall of the Berlin Wall more than 30 years ago was one of the most dramatic and important political events in my lifetime. Like millions of others around the world, I remember watching the events unfold on television, mesmerized by the pictures that none of us thought we would ever see. The Cold War seemed to end almost overnight, ending the oppression that imprisoned the people of East Germany and Central and Eastern Europe for decades.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate in June 1987 and urged Mr. Gorbachev to “tear down this wall!” Reagan knew he had to stand up to the Soviets. At the same time, he sought to reach citizens living behind the Iron Curtain by promoting Western values, rule of law, liberty, and democracy.

The Berlin Wall was torn down, but the challenges symbolized by the Wall—the struggle between liberty and oppression—still exist.

The People’s Republic of China is using technology as one of its tools to monitor and intimidate political dissidents and members of its religious minority groups, including Christians, Buddhists, and Muslims. Beijing aims to use technology to gain control over crucial infrastructure throughout the world, including within allied European countries.

As the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark, I am often asked if the United States is overreacting to the security threats posed by Huawei, ZTE, and other Chinese companies’ 5G technology. For many around the world, you might even be reading this article on a Huawei phone or getting internet access through a Huawei router, and maybe you wonder why the United States is making such a big deal about 5G and the threat from Chinese companies like Huawei.

Undoubtedly, 5G promises to be a revolutionary—not evolutionary—advancement that will have vast implications, particularly in forward-thinking societies like Denmark, ranging from artificial intelligence to manufacturing to public services such as electricity and transportation.

Disruptions to critical applications empowered by 5G could be life-threatening. The stakes could not be higher. We all need to be able to trust that 5G equipment and software companies will not threaten our national security, privacy, intellectual property, or human rights. Let me be clear: the People’s Republic of China cannot be trusted on a single one of these fronts.

The Berlin Wall was torn down, but the challenges symbolized by the Wall—the struggle between liberty and oppression—still exist.

Under Chinese law, companies must comply with demands from the Chinese Communist Party including to provide intelligence to the PRC government upon request and to keep all such cooperation secret. In a 5G future, that means Huawei and ZTE networks could be compelled, absent any democratic checks and balances, to turn over to the People Republic of China’s national intelligence authorities what you say and do online, images of your face or fingerprints, where you drive your car, what you discuss with your doctor, and your activities using the Internet of Things—all without your knowledge or consent. 

The People’s Republic of China gathers and exploits data and uses that information to invade their citizens’ privacy. Chinese authorities are relying on cameras, facial recognition, and “gait recognition” video surveillance to intimidate political dissidents and religious groups. Just look at the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights abuses of China’s Uyghur minority to see what the Chinese government does with its own citizens’ data.

This is not something we as collective democratic societies should allow.

Huawei builds networks for repressive regimes like Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea and enables these oppressive governments to abuse and control their own citizens. The Chinese Communist Party is systematically using Huawei and other national champions to dominate global technology sectors, standards, critical infrastructure, and information and communications networks.

A safe 5G future where everything is connected necessitates partners we can trust, and increasingly many of our friends around the world share this perspective. The U.S. government is seeking to achieve this level of trust through the Clean Network initiative, which seeks to safeguard nations’ assets, including citizens’ privacy and companies’ most sensitive information, from aggressive intrusions by malign actors such as the Chinese Communist Party.

And we’ve had good success working with our partners, with the Clean Network growing to include over 50 partners, including nearly all of our European allies, within the span of just six months. What’s just as powerful is that we are seeing the enthusiastic participation of the private sector in the Clean Network, with 180 clean telecommunications firms and dozens of leading clean companies joining the initiative. 

As we remember the fall of the Berlin Wall, we cannot take for granted the democratic freedoms we all enjoy.

The United States has called upon all freedom-loving nations, and companies within those nations, to safeguard telecommunications infrastructure in a manner that ensures national security concerns are addressed. Safeguarding our critical infrastructure, through initiatives like the Clean Network, will help ensure that the voice and data communications of our citizens do not pass through equipment from untrusted vendors or are handled by untrusted companies, many of whom are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. Within the U.S. government, we are also working to ensure that 5G communications to and from our diplomatic facilities at home and abroad only pass through trusted equipment: what we call the 5G Clean Path.

The need to protect our vital digital infrastructure has never been more urgent. I am pleased that Denmark is among a growing list of countries whose telecoms are not utilizing untrusted vendors to build and service their 5G networks. The United States will continue to work with our Danish friends and other democratic countries around the world on fostering a secure and vibrant telecommunications ecosystem, which is critical to our security and prosperity.

As we remember the fall of the Berlin Wall, we cannot take for granted the democratic freedoms we all enjoy, and which many East Germans experienced for the first time 30 years ago. We must continue to fight for and defend the values that are the foundation of our Western democracies.

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Ambassador Carla Sands is a Pacific Council member and the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark.

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Pacific Council.