Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, the Embassy Construction Integrity Act is very simple: America's adversaries must not be involved in building our diplomatic and consular posts. This, in my opinion, is a commonsense bill, or at least it should be. Last year, Congress was made aware that a Chinese state-owned enterprise was involved in the construction of a post in south Asia. Despite all of the bureaucratic red tape the State Department goes through to establish these posts, somehow checking whether the Chinese Government controls the companies constructing the building didn't quite make the list. The Chinese Government has established a pattern of leveraging its state-owned enterprise to serve dual functions during and after construction to spy on sensitive facilities. Chinese-owned companies built the African Union headquarters. Like many things, they can't just build something, they have to build it with Chinese characteristics. In this case, those Chinese characteristics were spyware that was utilized to quietly siphon enormous amounts of data every night for the Chinese Government. According to a study by Joshua Meservey, an expert in African geopolitics, Chinese companies have built nearly 200 government facilities in Africa, a number that is sure to have only increased since the study was published. I am not telling other countries who they can or cannot employ to construct their buildings.…”