Rep. Carlos Giménez, R-Fla., was not surprised to read the The Wall Street Journal report about Pentagon officials being skeptical of ship-to-shore cranes in America being manufactured in China and potentially serving as a spying tool for the Chinese government.
"Because I saw it firsthand," Giménez, who served as the Miami-Dade County mayor for nine years (2011-20), told Newsmax's "The Record with Greta Van Susteren."
The Miami port director approached the Miami mayor, according to Giménez, warning he "had deep concerns about our cranes, because a lot of our software had been manufactured by China and the Chinese Communist Party."
The Journal story reported roughly 80% of the cranes occupying U.S. ports have been manufactured by China; and Giménez said these cranes provide technology to that country, in terms of "what's going in and out" of American ports.
"The software could also get into our systems," said Giménez, a member of the new House Select Committee on China.
As Miami mayor, "we found some malware. So, when I became a congressman, I remembered that."
"I also thought it was very, very dangerous that 80% of our cranes were made in China, and that 70% of the world's cranes" were constructed with Chinese technology, "which means that China could disrupt global trade anytime it wants."
"I think that's highly dangerous," warned Giménez, and just one of numerous reasons why the United States should move forward on "decoupling" from China, he added.
The Chinese-made cranes "are all over the place" in America. It represents a "clear and present danger" to our nation's national security, he added.
Logistically speaking, Giménez concedes there are no overnight solutions to this pressing security problem, given how America's ports shall always require high-tech cranes.
As a five-year transition plan, though, Giménez has already proposed two pieces of legislation, with both designed to phase out America's reliance on technology from foreign rivals.
The first bill would "ban cranes manufactured by ... foreign adversaries — and China's one of 'em," Giménez said.
The second bill would require all U.S. ports to remove foreign-made software from its operating systems. These companies would have five years to make that all-important technology transition, according to Giménez.
The legislation would also provide grants for ports that are purchasing cranes from non-adversary nations.
"We want to stimulate the production of cranes outside of China," Giménez added.
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