CHINA RISK ALERT

Fear of Microsoft link

A top Republican lawmaker has urged President Biden’s Commerce Department to probe whether Microsoft’s business in China is a national security risk — after The Post highlighted growing fears on Capitol Hill that the Big Tech giant was getting too cozy with Beijing as it develops AI technology.

A scathing letter by Rep. Pat Fallon of Texas sent on Feb. 12, which has not been previously reported, was addressed to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo — one of several US officials whose emails were brazenly hacked after a China-based group breached their Microsoft Outlook accounts last year.

Fallon cited The Post’s report last December, in which US lawmakers warned Microsoft against working too closely with China. Executive Brad Smith had raised eyebrows by declaring Microsoft wanted to “actively participate in the digital transformation of China’s economy.”

“What we seek to understand is if and how Microsoft’s broad usage across the US federal government, close ties to [People’s Republic of China]’s government and compliance with intrusive PRC laws threatens US national and economic security,” Fallon said in the letter.

“No US company should be playing a role in supporting the Chinese government,” the letter added. Microsoft has faced more calls to exit China — where it has about 10,000 workers and multiple research labs — as critics warn that the Chinese Communist Party will force companies to divulge sensitive data and trade secrets. Those fears helped drive passage of a House bill that would force Beijing-based ByteDance to sell TikTok within six months or face a US ban.

Big Tech outlier

Microsoft is a notable outlier compared to Big Tech rivals such as Google and Meta, which have pulled out of the country to avoid the Communist Party’s censorship and tough scrutiny from US lawmakers.

“In order to comply with China’s National Cybersecurity Law, Microsoft must provide the Chinese government with access to its source code,” the congressman said.

A Microsoft spokesperson said the company has “long provided governments around the world ability to inspect limited portions of our source code to assure themselves it does not contain backdoors.”

The company has “not otherwise provided China with access to our source code or any other information about vulnerabilities,” the spokesperson added.

The Commerce Department did not respond to requests for comment.