House Republican Raises Concerns about China’s Logistics Management Platform

Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) talks with reporters during a news conference following a House Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Washington on Oct. 20, 2021. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

A Republican on the House China committee is asking an international body of port authorities and port system operators to stop promoting a Chinese logistics information-sharing platform, arguing that China could exploit its data for its strategic advantage.

In a Nov. 3 letter to the ​​International Port Community Systems Association (IPCSA), Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) expressed concerns about the Chinese platform called LOGINK, which was constructed and implemented by several Chinese government ministries, including transportation, commerce, and public security. LOGINK began working with the IPCSA in 2017 and joined the world body’s “Network of Trusted Networks” in 2022.

“For 16 years, the Chinese Communist Party has used LOGINK as an inside informant on the movements and cargo of commercial ships and the holes in our supply chain in order to gain a competitive foothold in global trade,” Ms. Steel said in a statement accompanying her letter. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched what would become LOGINK in 2007.

“Knowingly or unknowingly, the IPCSA has spread the use of a Chinese-state-controlled system that is actively risking our national security and the security of our allies,” she added.

“That is why it is vital that IPCSA denounce the CCP-controlled logistics platform and the [Department of Transportation] and [Customs and Border Protection] develop standards to counter LOGINK. A solution to close the loop and end the CCP’s decades-long espionage campaign is long overdue.”

IPCSA has members around the world, including the Port of Los Angeles, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority in Canada, the Ports of Genoa in Italy, the Port of Sines in Portugal, the Hamburg Port Authority in Germany, the Port of Antwerp in Belgium, and the PORTIC in Barcelona, Spain.

LOGINK “has cooperation agreements with at least 24 ports, freeports, and port operators outside of China,” including nine in Europe such as Hamburg, Sines, Antwerp, and Barconla, according to a 2022 report by the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC).

Expansion

The USCC report also warned about how China was upgrading its LOGINK platform.

“A second generation of LOGINK, now under development, would offer a cloud-based suite of enterprise software applications, such as advanced data analytics and business partner relationship management tools. These upgrades would afford LOGINK even greater access to global commercial data, potentially giving China’s government an unparalleled window into commercial transactions and trading relationships,” the report warned.

In her letter, which was sent to IPCSA Chairman Javier Gallardo, Ms. Steel warned about the unchecked expansion of LOGINK.

“The expansion of LOGINK, if left unchecked, could give the CCP a roadmap to gain a stranglehold on the arteries of global trade, a key aim of their Belt-and-Road Initiative (BRI),” she wrote. “With the data that a global LOGINK system could provide, the CCP could efficiently identify vital transportation nodes necessary to control the physical movement of goods.”

China launched the BRI in 2013 by financing infrastructure projects in participating nations to build up the CCP’s geopolitical influence along trade routes linking China, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Europe. Some experts have said that Beijing sees the BRI as the backbone of a new world order that it is trying to create.

“Unfortunately, the CCP currently has the ability to exploit their control over LOGINK and gain valuable intelligence regarding supply chains impacting and manipulating international trade as well as risking the U.S. Department of Defense’s use of commercial transportation and military logistics,” Ms. Steel wrote.

Ms. Steel wanted the IPCSA to “immediately end its relationship” with LOGINK, which is officially called the National Public Information Platform for Transportation and Logistics.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Mr. Gallardo for comment.

Legislation

Ms. Steel also introduced a (H.R.6228) on Friday. If enacted, it would require the transportation secretary and the commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to work with the International Maritime Organization, the European Commission, and appropriate international governmental organizations to develop an alternative to China’s LOGINK.

The alternative would need to be a “secure platform, with architecture that cannot be manipulated, managed, operated, or infiltrated by foreign adversaries,” according to the language of the bill.

Additionally, the bill would also require the president to submit a report to congressional committees. The report would need to include “possible threats on the commercial operations of the United States and international ports and other critical infrastructure due to the use of LOGINK.”

Earlier this year, the California lawmaker introduced a separate bill called the Securing Maritime Data from Communist China Act, which was included in the House’s 2024 National Defense Authorization Act that passed in July. The bill bans the Pentagon from entering or reviewing contracts with any ports that use LOGINK.

In November last year, Ms. Steel and a group of Republicans from both chambers wrote a letter to President Joe Biden, asking the president to answer several questions related to LOGINK. One of the questions asked, “What steps has your administration taken to protect sensitive U.S. government and military shipping data from LOGINK and other logistics management platforms run by or affiliated with potential adversaries?”

“What actions has your administration taken to counter attempts by China at international standards-setting bodies to spread LOGINK or similar systems globally?” another question asked.

According to Ms. Steel, the Biden administration never responded to their letter.