A pair of Republican lawmakers wrote a letter to the Departments of State and Defense warning of the risk posed by the Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing over its links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, Sens. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) urged prohibiting military personnel and diplomats from using digital transportation platforms such as Didi Chuxing over security concerns.
Such platforms “collect users’ personal information and sensitive geo-location data and are obligated to share that data with Beijing’s intelligence and security services,” the pair said.
The senators also urged the state department to update its travel advisories to U.S. citizens traveling to countries “in which any such digital transportation platform operates, especially where these platforms may be operating under a different local brand from their parent company.”
The senators urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to ensure that issuers on U.S. exchanges fully disclose their legal obligation to assist Beijing’s intelligence agencies and security services.
“We also urge that any future SEC rulemaking or guidance on environmental, social, and governance reporting requires companies to fully report any such legal obligations to assist Beijing’s intelligence agencies and security services, given these entities’ extensive record of human rights abuses and repression both inside and outside of the PRC,” they wrote, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Young, a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and Rubio, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said the CCP’s ability to exploit this data poses an “immediate threat” to U.S. national security, the stability and sovereignty of U.S. allies and partners, and the defense of democracy and human rights around the world.
“For the past several years, the CCP has worked steadily to build an expansive legal framework that explicitly requires any Chinese company, even nominally privately-owned ones, that collects sensitive data to turn it over to Beijing’s intelligence agencies and security services on demand,” the pair wrote.
Didi operates its ride-hailing platform in 17 countries beyond China, including key U.S. allies and partners such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil. It is also preparing to soon begin operations in the United Kingdom and across the European Union.
The Epoch Times has contacted the Biden administration and Didi Chuxing for comment.
