During an interview with ABC News host Martha Raddatz, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) said that China is using TikTok to infiltrate U.S. data systems, and that the Biden administration has been “too timid” in its handling of the communist country.
“I think what we heard clearly from the intelligence community is the emergence of China as a threat, both militarily and through espionage … through technology, quantum technology, computing, also certainly the ability for them to insert themselves through TikTok into our data systems,” he said. “We worked really hard to get them out of our telecommunication systems with – by getting rid of Huawei systems in our telecommunication, and then we’re handing over our phone systems by people downloading a TikTok app, which has no division between, you know, the Chinese company, the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party.”
Turner went on to address how China is a growing threat to the United States and how the Biden administration is “too timid” in its handling of international relations.
“So I think that — the difference I think is that the Biden administration appears to be much too timid,” Turner continued. “They’ve been much timid in their approach to Russia, always having been pushed by Congress before they would fully support Ukraine. And I think even in China they’re afraid to provoke. And we believe, I think most, who have looked at the intelligence, that look at what’s happening with their military buildup, they’re tripling their side of their nuclear weapons pointed at the United States, they’re expanding their – their shipbuilding, they’re absolutely emerging as a military threat to the United States. I think we need to respond, and respond very strongly.”
GOP Rep. Mike Turner, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, tells @MarthaRaddatz that China is emerged as a threat “both militarily and through espionage.”
“Certainly the ability for them to insert themselves through TikTok into our data systems.” https://t.co/2jPydU5dKv pic.twitter.com/FfxckqbXkH
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 12, 2023
