New Report Exposes Microsoft’s Disturbing Ties To China
Microsoft’s deep entanglement with China, exposed in a new report, shows how the tech giant’s pursuit of profit is undermining U.S. security and handing leverage to a hostile regime.
One of America’s major national security threats is the cozy relationship between many American corporations and the Chinese government. Microsoft is one of the worst offenders in this regard, as proven by a new report released last week. It adds to the growing evidence that the tech giant is far too close with America’s chief geopolitical foe to be trusted with handling critical infrastructure.
The report, compiled by Nathan Picarsic of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Horizon Advisory, reveals a disturbing picture about the tech giant. “Over three decades, the company has built a vast commercial, research, and engineering presence in China, one that now intersects directly with the PRC’s intelligence, surveillance, and military-industrial ecosystem,” the study notes.
American Greatness has previously covered Microsoft’s suspicious ties to the Chinese Communist Party. In August, the Department of War severed ties with a Microsoft cloud service program that relied on Chinese engineers. “The use of Chinese nationals to service Department of Defense cloud environments? It’s over,” Secretary of War Pete Hegesth said at the time. The new report references this tawdry connection, as well as several other “risky engagements.”
The report states:
Microsoft’s over three decades of operations in China have created dependencies that risk intertwining US government systems with China’s state-backed technology ecosystem. Microsoft’s pursuit of market access in China has coincided with repeated security breaches and sensitive technology spillover. A web of opaque partnerships in the Chinese market has seemingly normalized this set of risks and magnified the persistent conflict between managing short-term commercial interests in the Chinese market with long-term US national security interests.
According to the report, Microsoft has shared information from Windows and Office code with an entity allegedly overseen by China’s foreign intelligence service. This access would give Chinese spies unprecedented ability to exploit a service that many American government agencies rely on, providing a valuable asset to the CCP. With this power, Chinese intelligence can figure out new ways to hack into and monitor critical American infrastructure.
Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure is seriously compromised by Chinese assets, as Horizon Analysis finds. Along with its cloud service that the Department of War previously relied on, the tech giant’s Azure China cloud offers CCP officials the ability to see into Microsoft’s entire cloud infrastructure. This access would threaten many government agencies and contractors who rely on the tech company’s services. This connection has already come at a high cost. The Azure framework is believed to have played a role in the notorious “Storm-0558” hack, which stands as one of the worst data breaches in American history.
Its partnerships in China, which Microsoft loves to tout, provide even more opportunities for Chinese agents to subvert our national security. Microsoft Research Asia collaborates with universities linked to the Chinese military and its AI development efforts. Microsoft’s operations in the country have been tied to Chinese entities implicated in the communist country’s severe human rights abuses. Microsoft’s joint venture with a firm overseen by Chinese intelligence provided Windows technology to a core part of the CCP’s military goliath.
The list goes on and on.
The report is another example of how too many American companies put their own interest ahead of the national interest. Microsoft doesn’t care if its technology and services are used to build up the Chinese military and help Chinese intelligence gain access to sensitive information. A price needs to be paid for these irresponsible practices.
Thankfully, the Trump administration, as seen by the War Department’s decision to end use of a Microsoft program, shows the willingness to do what’s necessary to protect the national interest against the dangers of corporate greed. It’s time for other government agencies to follow suit.By Paul Bradford
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