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Google and Facebook Inc. dropped their plans for an undersea cable between the United States and Hong Kong after the Trump administration said Beijing could use the link to gather information on Americans.
But the companies quickly submitted a revised proposal that includes links to Taiwan and the Philippines, as anticipated in the request that was withdrawn Thursday. The new filing did not include Hong Kong-based Pacific Light Data Communication Co., a partner in the original plan and a concern for US law enforcement agencies citing its ties to Dr. Peng Telecom & Media Group Co. of Mainland China.
The steps come as tensions continue to rise between the United States and China over a series of conflicts. These include Beijing’s increasingly strict control over Hong Kong and its treatment of the Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic group; American accusations that Chinese high-tech products could be used for spying; and recriminations for the spread of the coronavirus from the Chinese province of Hubei.
The companies proposed the Pacific Light Cable Network project in 2017, listing the three trans-Pacific destinations. US law enforcement agencies, the Justice Department, on June 17 asked the FCC to deny the link to Hong Kong, saying it would give China a way to acquire Americans’ personal data. The agencies called Pacific Light Data a subsidiary of Dr. Peng, who they said has ties to Chinese intelligence and security services.
The agencies recommended that the Federal Communications Commission approve parts of the project that connects the United States with Taiwan and the Philippines. Google won the authority in April to operate the part linking Taiwan for six months.
“We continue to work through established channels to obtain cable landing licenses for our undersea cables,” a Google spokesman for Alphabet Inc. said in an email. The Google representative said that the original application “has been withdrawn and a revised application has been submitted for the parts of the system between the United States, Taiwan and the Philippines.”
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks noted in a tweet that the request had been withdrawn after US officials raised national security concerns. “I shared those concerns and will continue to speak out,” Starks said. “@FCC must ensure that our telecommunications traffic is safe and secure.”
A Facebook representative responded to a query by directing a reporter to the project’s FCC files.
© 2020 Bloomberg LP
