China’s infiltration of the US and other countries is nothing new, whether to spy, collect sensitive data, or steal trade secrets. The Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) found 224 reported instances of Chinese espionage directed at the nation since 2000. The newest discovered threat comes in the form of “kill switches” that could potentially give the communist country the ability to cause widespread blackouts.
Energy enthusiasts tell us we need to do what’s best for the planet. We need to drive electric cars, stop using gas stoves, eat bugs instead of beef, and use solar whenever possible. In fact, in Europe, Energy Minister Andrew Bowie vowed to put solar panels on “every possible rooftop right across the country,” the Daily Mail reported. But the government might want to hit the pause button on solar setups that include power inverters produced in China.
According to Reuters, citing two people who remain unnamed because they weren’t given permission to speak to the media, some unexplained communication equipment was found inside the inverters that could act as kill switches and be dangerous to our infrastructure. The communication components provide channels that let the solar panels communicate with the grids. However, the rogue components found during a routine security check provide “additional, undocumented communication channels that could allow firewalls to be circumvented remotely, with potentially catastrophic consequences, the two people said,” Reuters explained.
“We know that China believes there is value in placing at least some elements of our core infrastructure at risk of destruction or disruption,” Mike Rogers, a former director of the US National Security Agency, told the outlet. “I think that the Chinese are, in part, hoping that the widespread use of inverters limits the options that the West has to deal with the security issue.”
Using these devices has the potential to destabilize power grids, damage energy infrastructure, and trigger widespread blackouts, according to experts. “The threat we face from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is real and growing,” according to Republican Representative August Pfluger, who is a member of the Committee on Homeland Security. “Whether it’s telecom hacks or remotely accessing solar and battery inverters, the CCP stops at nothing to target our sensitive infrastructure and components.”
CSIS produced a detailed list of 224 espionage attempts in the US since 2000. However, “It does not include espionage against other countries, against U.S. firms or persons located in China, nor the many cases involving attempts to smuggle controlled items from the U.S. to China (usually munitions or controlled technologies) or the more than 1200 cases of intellectual property theft lawsuits brought by U.S. companies against Chinese entities in either the US or China,” the website states. “The focus is on the illicit acquisition of information by Chinese intelligence officers or their agents and on the increasing number of Chinese covert influence operations.”
CSIS blames the espionage problem on the increasingly hostile policies of China’s ruling Communist Party. While hacking is The Red Dragon’s preferred method, they also use recruitment and “unconventional approaches, such as buying property next to a military or research facility.” For the cases where the organization could identify the actor and intent, they found:
- 49% of incidents directly involved Chinese military or government employees.
- 41% were private Chinese citizens.
- 10% were non-Chinese actors (usually U.S. persons recruited by Chinese officials)
- 46% of incidents involved cyber espionage, usually by State-affiliated actors.
- 29% of incidents sought to acquire military technology.
- 54% of incidents sought to acquire commercial technologies.
- 17% of incidents sought to acquire information on U.S. civilian agencies or politicians.
CSIS reported that incidents of Chinese espionage far outnumber those by any other country, even Russia. “The long-term cost to the American economy and national security cannot be precisely measured,” they explained, “but estimates run into the billions of dollars for commercial and technological espionage.” Furthermore, “Chinese espionage also created immeasurable damage to national security with the theft of weapons, technology, including nuclear weapons test data.” In addition, “In the last few years, China has added the theft of massive quantities of personal information (PII), political coercion, and influence operations, to its espionage activities.”
“It’s about time we ramp up our efforts to show China that compromising us will no longer be acceptable,” Pfluger told Reuters. In February, the Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act was introduced, which would ban the Department of Homeland Security from purchasing batteries from some Chinese entities due to national security concerns. If passed, it would start in October 2027.
