In February, the Biden administration launched a probe into Chinese-made electric vehicles, citing national security threats in its “connected vehicles” technology. In March, the European Union moved closer to imposing tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles.
“These cars are connected to our phones, to navigation systems, to critical infrastructure, and to the companies that made them,” President Joe Biden said in a statement on Feb. 29.
Nicholas Burns, the U.S. Ambassador to China, confirmed during an online conference with the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa on March 14 that the Biden administration has recently shifted its attention to China’s electric vehicles in its efforts to “decouple” from China. He stated that Chinese-made electric cars could potentially collect Americans’ personal information, posing a threat to U.S. national security.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo emphasized that while Chinese-made electric vehicles may one day drive on American roads, this would only happen under the federal government’s strict regulations on their software and sensors.
She also warned that due to the Chinese regime’s subsidies for electric vehicles, the number of Chinese-made electric vehicles sold in Europe has increased significantly in recent years. This not only distorts trade but also poses a national security risk.
The United States had just held five ministerial-level meetings of the Trade and Technology Council with the European Union in Washington to coordinate policies toward China.
Regarding this matter, Shiow-Wen Wang, assistant research fellow at Taiwan’s Institute of National Defense and Security Research, told The Epoch Times, “Electric vehicle technology relies heavily on sensors to collect information, including external environments such as the road surface and nearby buildings. So the concerns of U.S. officials are justified.”
She explained that electric vehicles are often equipped with a large number of sensors or radar-like devices, which may gather intelligence on the areas the vehicles pass through.
US and EU Call for Regulation
On Feb. 29, President Biden stated his intention to restrict Chinese-made electric vehicles entering the U.S. market. He argued that the operating systems of Chinese-made “connected” vehicles could transmit sensitive information to China, posing a national security risk.The Department of Commerce subsequently initiated relevant security investigations and signaled that the U.S. may enact new regulations. U.S. officials explicitly stated that this is only the first step, and further regulations will be introduced in the future.
Lael Brainard, the director of the National Economic Council, stated that China is making an impact on the global market with its cars and that China’s electric vehicles have the potential to access our infrastructure continuously by using drivers’ smartphones, nearby vehicles, and other means.
She further explained that “connected vehicles” are like “smartphones on wheels,” continuously collecting sensitive data on drivers, passengers, American roads, and critical infrastructure, sending data back to Beijing. Such vehicles may also be more susceptible to remote access and control.
On Feb. 28, Mr. Biden issued an executive order to protect Americans’ sensitive personal data from being exploited by countries of concern. This executive order is the most significant executive action taken to date on this issue, authorizing the Attorney General to prevent the mass transfer of Americans’ personal data to countries of concern.
Regarding Chinese car manufacturer BYD’s security concerns, the pan-European think tank European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) issued a warning at the end of January that the security risks posed by Chinese-made electric vehicles are greater in many aspects than China’s 5G networks and are more challenging to resolve.
Janka Oertel, director of the Asia Program at the ECFR, recently released a report on the risks of Chinese electric vehicles in Europe. The report warns that the widespread adoption of such vehicles in Europe could pose challenges and ultimately have geopolitical implications.
The report points out that electric vehicles rely on data collection to train the AI for autonomous driving, monitoring the behavior of drivers and passengers, and tracking the surrounding environment. Therefore, whoever controls this data and software updates becomes a problem, since this data could endanger national security, cybersecurity, and individual privacy.
The report also calls on the EU to take regulatory measures to clarify whether public officials, such as lawmakers, judges, police officers, etc., should be allowed to drive Chinese-made electric vehicles and whether these vehicles should be allowed to operate in certain areas of Europe, such as near military facilities, NATO bases, and other critical infrastructure.
The European Commission said in early March that it found “sufficient evidence” that the Chinese-made electric vehicles received significant subsidies from the Chinese regime. This allows such vehicles to be priced below market prices. Therefore, the EU is moving to impose tariffs on the import of Chinese electric vehicles.
Ms. Wang said, “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) now requires all the data collected to be transferred to China, which is a serious problem. Unless there is a way to leave the data in the United States or another country in the future, like [the proposed solution for] TikTok, it is unlikely [Western countries] would tolerate such security risks.”
China’s Top EV Manufacturer
China’s leading electric vehicle manufacturer, BYD, launched a new generation of Integrated Vehicle Intelligence. According to its official website, BYD’s DiLink is an intelligent system developed independently by BYD based on the latest technologies such as mobile internet, intelligent AI, voice recognition, vehicle networking, big data, etc., aiming to connect people, cars, life, and the wider society.With the help of generous subsidies from the CCP and China’s low-cost labor, BYD defeated all Western electric vehicles with high-cost performance by the end of last year. In the last quarter of 2023, BYD sold 520,000 vehicles, surpassing Tesla’s 480,000 vehicles, becoming the world’s largest electric vehicle retailer.
In addition to its domestic market in China, BYD has expanded into markets such as Southeast Asia, Japan, and Europe. However, its overseas expansion has not been smooth sailing. Last year, it only sold 16,000 vehicles in Europe, with tens of thousands of vehicles left stored in warehouses.
In January, a BYD bus caught fire in London, sparking concerns about its quality. This led to UK authorities recalling nearly 2,000 BYD electric buses.
A BYD Seal U model car is seen at the stand of the Chinese carmaker at the Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva, on Feb. 27, 2024. Fabrice Coferini/ AFP via Getty Images
Ms. Wang said, “Chinese-made electric vehicles are very cheap due to [China’s] government subsidies. However, its weakness lies in the batteries, and there have been several incidents of electric vehicle fires and explosions in China, posing threats not only to national security but also to the general public’s safety.”
In addition, she pointed out that the dumping of cheap Chinese-made electric vehicles in the West also threatens the economies of countries such as Japan and the United States, leading to unemployment in the automobile manufacturing industry.
“Whatever the CCP does, it’s always a nationwide campaign, with no resource allocation based on market economics,” Ms. Wang said. “In the end, like [China’s] real estate, there will be problems such as overcapacity. At some point, this market will threaten their regime since the CCP fundamentally does not believe in Western capitalism, and major problems will arise.”
Jane Tao contributed to this report.
