Chairman Gallagher's Remarks on the CCP's Threat to American Businesses and Critical Infrastructure in Miami, Florida

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Thanks so much for Hydi Webb, the entire Port Miami team, the Florida  Department of Transportation, as well as my Select Committee colleague  Carlos Gimenez, for hosting us here today. 

Few things are more essential to the United States than our ports. If our  ports shut down, our economy shuts down. It’s as simple as that. 

Ports are also essential to our ability to deploy our troops. In the event of a  crisis, to include over Taiwan, we anticipate our nation’s critical  infrastructure—especially our ports—will be on the receiving end of a  relentless cyber offensive designed to cripple our economy and delay the  flow of US forces to the Indo-Pacific. 

That’s why I’m increasingly concerned about the CCP's efforts to control  our ports through Chinese-made smart cranes. ZPMC has a near-global  monopoly with almost 70% of the worldwide market, and it makes nearly  80% of the cranes in US ports.  

These Chinese made cranes can register and track the movement and  destination of containers, allowing the CCP to capture information about  materiel being shipped in or out of the country to support U.S. military  operations. The cranes could also provide remote access for the CCP to  shut down them down to delay aid to Taiwan. They are also potentially  being used as spying tools. In 2021, FBI agents found intelligence  gathering equipment on a cargo ship delivering ZPMC cranes to the  Baltimore port. 

The CCP effort to control ports is extensive. Two-thirds of the world’s top  50 container ports are owned by Chinese entities or supported by Chinese  investments and the CCP has a foothold in at least 100 ports across more  than 60 countries, including in Latin America. They are also offering an 

integrated logistics data platform called LOGINK for free that would give  them access, insight, and control over global transportation flows. 

In 2013, President Obama gave a famous speech at the port of Miami  about investing in American infrastructure. His advance team had gone up  to the cranes and covered up the ZPMC logo with American flags. But they  didn’t count on the wind. Numerous TV cameras caught the American flags  placards blowing off, revealing the ZPMC logo underneath. 

There’s a metaphor here. Like President Obama, we’ve welcomed national  security threats with open arms and pasted American flags over them, only  to see them blown off by the winds of global realignment. In recent years,  Congress has taken decisive action to counter threats from CCP proxies  like Huawei and ZTE. 

We need to act with a sense of urgency to secure our critical port  infrastructure. 

We must investigate if ZPMC is the Huawei of port infrastructure, waiting to  disrupt our economy or national security in the event of a crisis. 

This is why I am grateful for the leadership of Rep. Gimenez in calling out  the danger posed by ZPMC cranes.  

He was on top of this issue before anyone else, and I’m tremendously  proud to call him a friend and colleague on the Select Committee.  

I’m also grateful to Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi who has spoken out  about CCP malign influence in global port investments.  

I’m looking forward to working with him and all my colleagues to mitigate  these threats moving forward.