First came TikTok. Then came giant weather balloons. Now, the Pentagon has identified another potential Chinese surveillance tool: giant cranes.


As in, the giant ship-to-shore cargo cranes produced by China-based manufacturer ZPMC and employed by many American ports -- including some used by the US military-industrial complex. (There is so far no evidence that your "Made in China" electric toothbrush is being used to spy on your dental hygiene.)


The Crane of Our Existence


In fairness, the Pentagon has long warned against possible security risks associated with certain foreign-made products or equipment, such as electrical substation equipment or airport baggage-screening devices. Last year, the US notably instituted a ban on equipment from Chinese telecom companies Huawei and ZTE, citing concerns that it could be used to spy on American customers.


The consternation about cargo cranes comes as China's influence over the global shipping industry rises, along with its ability to theoretically exploit that dominance for geopolitical gain. The nation has made strategic investments in trade ports the world over, with over 27% of global container trade in 2021 passing through ports at least partially owned by top China and/or Hong Kong firms, according to maritime research firm Drewry. China also produces nearly the entire global supply of shipping containers and controls an important shipping data collection service called Logink, too.


So it was perhaps inevitable that ZPMC cranes have been identified as the next possible US/China troublemaker:


- ZPMC claims to own roughly 70% of the global crane market, with its equipment at work in over 100 countries. They account for nearly 80% of ship-to-shore cranes in US ports, a source told the Wall Street Journal.

- In 2021, a Defense Intelligence Agency assessment found that the cranes could conceivably be throttled or shut down remotely -- potentially destabilizing supply chains -- and could gather intelligence on equipment being shipped by the military.


National Security officials have not identified any malicious crane behavior, yet. And, crucially, no US intelligence agency is directly responsible for maritime security, meaning ports are left without a spy paddle for guidance and standards.

nak paksa semua tukar guna 'Made in USA' punya cakpa je la, usah buat kenyataan sampah...

owai--

Ban iPhone too. Made in China

US getting ridiculous day by day. Just say u want to disrupt China economy. No need say security concern. Just like how they use the same excuse to invade countries. WMD. Yeah right.

china inside so many apple device...just let china peek abit in return.
can also ask yahoodee intel forward abit data on the device also. you no forward we no give missile to create more orphans

This post has been edited by GHBZDK: Mar 7 2023, 12:40 PM

US scared during war time the china cranes wont respond to control when load war materials onto ship

They're probably spot on or paranoid as a crackhead

I think the people there should be more scared about their own government spying on them.

later US karen gonna sue ccp, their bra. ....

sooo.... china knows how many shipping containers you unload at your ports?? so what? that data is probably publicly available anyway.
i dont see how shipping container cranes can 'spy'. maybe they can send photos of sensitive cargo you transport but thats like 1 in a million containers.

F... funny.

With all the latest technology and AI tools available they spy on you with old school equipment like heavy duty cranes? This must be extreme paranoia.

US showing how delusional and paranoid they are

taiwan news also laugh at them

Like someone said their satellites can even read the names on the tombstones.

But somehow they want to use those heavy duty cranes which can easily kantoi. Hilarious.

scared shipping data feed to CCP ???

Either US becomes paranoid, or they are trying to rule by fear.

At this point idk, maybe donald duck become president isn't such a bad thing after all.

Its possible... But why use cranes when you can use real people called spies?? There are satellites too...

they dont have a choice already, anti china is political correct.

not anti china means you traitor.

US is a country that always need an external enemy, without this external enemy, they will fight within itself, maybe massive armed conflict within the state.

like if alien do invade us, ukraine and russia war will instant stop, all guns point outwards, about the same theory.

karen, hidup kami tidak lengkap tanpa sarahan CCP.

Americunt really somethig. They DRM their tractors, printers, label stickers, now want to have ability to even disable cars remotely if missed payment.

deswai they ban Xinjiang cotton, the cotton can emit cotton signals which spy on the wearer. Next also spying is Xinjiang tomato, it will spy on the person eating and emit tomato signals back to CCP. make sure all of you don't eat china produce and also use china products, CCP knows more about you than you.

This post has been edited by Avex: Mar 7 2023, 01:31 PM

Basically everything is a possible vector

usually announcements like these are not for the public, but are a way for CIA to inform Goanbu that "we've discovered your plot"

Chinaphobia in kambing.....

a laaaa, hacker USA kan hebat hebat, takan lah tabouli tutup backdoor dan counter hack sistem kren tu,...... Kelakar betul lar, baik ko kata terus nak throttle Chynaaaa economy growth kelakar betul lar US of A nih

lmao ok

China is 2020s Iraq

remember 911. It's their policy to rule by fear

Has China successfully scared US into paranoia mode lol

xinjiang genocide, spy balloon incident . the accusations go on and on.
the main issue is that some of the stupid commentators believe the nonsense. after one accusation subside , the US politicians will make another accusation . expect the trend to continue for the next 20 years.

Eventually ppl outside will continue to use made in china "open source" products that is affordable while USA and Europe can have fun paying USD and EUR for their own set of premium woke products.

Takleh nak compete & red eye, cakap je la. go around the bush ban ini ban itu buat malu je... owait...

usa world biggest spy scared other ppl spy on him

thats why coming soon... made in india

US president speech, need to cover Chinese crane logo before speech starts.



This post has been edited by Skidd Chung: Mar 7 2023, 01:57 PM

ports are some of the most important targets in war

The main objective of Operation Overlord was actually French ports, and the main objective of Hitler's last offensive in Dec 1944 was the port of Antwerp

This post has been edited by KLthinker91: Mar 7 2023, 01:57 PM

not saying ports are not important.
just questioning how "spy" cranes would actually help China get an upper hand over US.

Finally AngMohs become crazy

I think spy tools are in Shein clothing too 😆. US girls should take off their clothes in public to avoid being spied upon.

Next, China made cups and teapots knows what we drink and sent back the information to CCP for analysis.
China clothes the source of US skin disease.
China earphones makes US citizens senile.

This post has been edited by Capt. Marble: Mar 7 2023, 03:40 PM

They should have paid more to remove the logo and add own branding.

Say now need to ship weapons to Taiwan Ukraine
Ports need to shift military cargo in tight schedules
Hack the crane and the shipment is delayed
Or, observe the cargo and inform Russia when the shipment can be expected

Make sense.

China the most surveil state in the world. Make sense everything they make has camera.

Amedika lickers won't be happy with your analogy

ok. plausible.

Kecian murika...

So many contractors plotek plotek.... Lol...

If it were American surveillance on Chinese ports the reaction here would be more violent

As it is, sailing a ship in the sea also sudah triggered so many

CCPiss lickers you no count?

Difference is this country really got WMD

i am pretty sure they got north korea and iran to contend without needing to add some more.

those are peanut, like a human vs an ant, do u call an ant as your enemy ?

Hahahahaha, betul. They exported & outsourced all of their jobs & products/services to Asia already.
Now they want it back!

WMD is too 2000s.. now 2023 liao.. use new term national security

one of the "ant" has nuclear warheads and developing well into functional ballistic missiles so i wouldn't call it an "ant" 😂

the other in middle east is busy developing nuclear weapons too and i think they are not too far away.

the US and British needs the China cranes to build aircraft carriers and warships. if the US is so worried about the China cranes , just don't build warships. easy answer.

FBI promised to provide evidence to support the claim of the China spy balloon. why no further announcements ? simple answer . it is just an ordinary weather balloon. the baseless accusations against China will be going on and on for the next at least 20 years.

Simple, dismantle all the cranes at harbour !! Simple as that !!

toilet bowl made from china, they goina spy our anus