WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, Rep. Vince Fong (R-CA), member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, delivered the following opening statement in a hearing to evaluate the growing security concerns stemming from artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and autonomous sensing technologies developed by companies affiliated with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and how to strengthen the U.S. technology and manufacturing base.

Watch Rep. Fong's opening statement here.

As prepared for delivery:

Today, this Subcommittee is examining a national security challenge that is currently unfolding inside the United States.

The People's Republic of China is moving aggressively to dominate the technologies that are reshaping the global economy and security, including artificial intelligence, robotics, and autonomous systems. This competition is already present on American campuses, in American police departments, on American smartphones, and increasingly within systems connected to our critical infrastructure.

The pattern behind this expansion should look familiar. Chinese companies replicate or acquire American innovation, benefit from large-scale state support, undercut competitors on price, and then use their growing market presence to collect data and expand Beijing's strategic reach.

Washington saw this pattern before in industries such as solar panels, drones, and electric vehicles. We are now seeing it again in artificial intelligence and robotics.

I want to start with DeepSeek, because what happened during the past year represents something genuinely alarming that we have not fully reckoned with.

In January 2025, a Chinese artificial intelligence company called DeepSeek released a model that rivaled the best systems produced by leading American AI innovators at a claimed cost that was a fraction of what American companies invested. The technology world, and the market, was shocked. Observers called it an AI Sputnik moment.

But the real story was not just what DeepSeek built. It was how.

Within weeks of its release, American AI companies raised serious concerns that DeepSeek used their proprietary models, without consent, to train its own through a process known as model distillation. Rather than investing years of effort and billions of dollars in frontier research, DeepSeek appeared to have fed outputs from leading American AI systems into its training pipeline, illicitly reverse-engineering the capabilities those companies had developed through legitimate investment.

More recently, in February 2026, DeepSeek, along with Chinese AI firms MiniMax and Moonshot AI, had reportedly orchestrated an industrial-scale campaign to extract capabilities through distillation attacks.

Further reporting suggested that DeepSeek employees used third-party routers and networks of unauthorized resellers to circumvent existing safeguards, and may have sought to override safety protections around biological and chemical weapons research.

Let me be clear about what that means. DeepSeek did not simply outcompete American companies. According to these disclosures, it stole from them.

And DeepSeek is not just a competitive concern. It is also a data and influence concern sitting on millions of American devices. The application is available today in the Apple App Store. Every interaction is stored on servers located in the People's Republic of China, where authorities can demand access to that data under Chinese law. Researchers have also documented that DeepSeek censors questions related to issues sensitive to Beijing and frequently produces responses that align with official Chinese Communist Party positions.

The same concerns apply to Unitree Robotics. Unitree has become a dominant global supplier of robotic dogs and humanoid robots, supported by Chinese manufacturing scale and state subsidies that allow its products to be sold at a fraction of the price of American systems. As a result, these robots are already appearing in police departments, universities, and even parts of the federal government here in the United States.

Researchers have discovered vulnerabilities in Unitree systems that could allow unauthorized access to live camera feeds or even remote control of the devices. Additional research has identified weaknesses that could allow one compromised robot to spread attacks to others nearby. Some of these systems have also been observed transmitting operational data back to servers located in China.

American companies are innovating and competing seriously in robotics and artificial intelligence, and this Subcommittee strongly supports their work. The answer is not to retreat from these technologies. It is to invest in trusted American alternatives, strengthen cybersecurity practices, and prevent federal funds from supporting platforms that put American data and infrastructure at risk and give China an economic and military advantage.

The witnesses before us today have direct knowledge of these threats and the larger dynamics at play across these industries. I look forward to their testimony.

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