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‘Risk of security breach’: US senators warn Pacific ally about China’s bid for undersea cable project
- Letter to Federated States of Micronesia signed by US senators Cruz and Rubio says awarding contract to Huawei Marine would hamper relations with US
- Nauru, an ally of Taiwan, reported to have raised concerns about bids for the cable project
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Prominent United States lawmakers warned a Pacific ally that China risked undermining the security of a sensitive undersea cable project if a cut-price, state-backed bid won a tender process overseen by development agencies, a letter shows.
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In the letter seen by Reuters and dated September 18, Republican senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio told the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) China could leverage its way into the project to wage “campaigns of espionage and geopolitical coercion”. Beijing recently imposed symbolic sanctions on both Cruz and Rubio.
It was reported last week that Huawei Marine, recently divested from Huawei Technologies Co and now majority-owned by another Chinese firm, submitted bids priced at more than 20 per cent lower than two rivals for the $72.6 million project funded by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Washington has pressed governments around the world to squeeze Huawei Technologies out of supplying critical infrastructure, alleging the company would hand over data to the Chinese government for spying, a charge consistently denied by the company.
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The cable project is designed to improve communications to the remote Pacific island nations of FSM, Nauru and Kiribati, although it has reached an impasse at the bid assessment stage, two sources with direct knowledge of the project details said. All parties involved have input on the selection of the tender winner.
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