The NBA-China controversy is a "disturbing lesson" on the extent of leverage the Chinese government has, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday.
“If the Chinese government has such leverage over NBA stars and the league itself, that raises the question, how else can they can export their censorship, their anti-Democratic values, and ultimately their control when it comes to even more important things like our 5G networks, the wireless networks of the future?” Pai said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends."
The European Union has expressed concerns, without specifying companies from China, that 5G networks that are exposed to firms with state backing could pose "security challenges," including "increased exposure to attacks and more potential entry points for attackers."
Pai also noted China's pressuring Apple to remove the flag of Taiwan from its iPhone emoji list in Hong Kong.
“If this is the leverage that China is willing to use over things like basketball and flag emojis and the like, just imagine if we have 5G networks that power all of our industries that work for our military," Pai said. "What kind of leverage the Chinese government could exert over the operators here in the United States if they want information about how we’re doing business, how we live our lives."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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