China’s ZTE taps Joe Lieberman for Washington damage control
- Former US senator and vice-presidential candidate Joe Lieberman has been hired by ZTE to do an ‘independent’ national security assessment of its products
- He is the third US lawmaker to work on ZTE’s behalf in Washington
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Daniel Lippman and Steven Overly on politico.com on December 13, 2018.
Chinese telecom giant ZTE is tapping a deeply connected Washington insider, former US Senator Joe Lieberman, as it tries to fend off ongoing concerns that it poses a threat to US national security.
The company – the subject of a heated congressional battle earlier this year – has hired Lieberman to conduct an “independent” national security assessment of its products, the former senator told POLITICO.
“There are obviously still concerns about the safety of their products or the extent to which their products could be used to compromise American security in any way or even individual security,” Lieberman said in an interview, adding that ZTE has “decided to really try to get ahead of those concerns and be in a position to answer them.”
US officials have ramped up warnings that ZTE, which produces networking equipment as well as smartphones and tablet computers, provides opportunities for Chinese cyber espionage, given its ties to the Chinese government.