Philippine Lawmakers Worry China Telecom May Be a 'Trojan horse'

An anonymous reader shares a report: Opposition members of the Philippine Congress raised concern on Wednesday that China Telecom Corp, which may enter the Philippine industry, could be a "Trojan horse" aimed at giving China access to state secrets. The Southeast Asian country aims to name a third telecom operator within the first quarter that will break the duopoly of PLDT and Globe Telecom State-run China Telecom has been named as a possible investor in that third entity. President Rodrigo Duterte, who has warned both PLDT and Globe to shape up or face competition, has welcomed Chinese entities specifically to become the third telecoms operator. Beijing has selected China Telecom to invest in the Philippines, according to Philippine officials, but it would need to partner with a local company as it cannot operate alone under the law. China Telecom's presence in the Philippines, however, does not sit well with some lawmakers, given China's telecommunications expertise and sophisticated technology.

Re:What about american software?

[burtosis]

At this point I suspect most closed source software of being a Trojan horse.

Encryption

[DrYak]

If you're worried about *an infrastructure provider* putting your state secret at risk, then there's a high chance that you're doing encryption wrong.

- use server encryption (communication between you and the server are over sopme form of SSL like HTTPS, nobody else along the line can access them)
- use end-to-end encryption (you encrypt your message before sending it, the recipient decrypts it after receiving, even the server doesn't have any idea what you're saying)
- use onion routing (hard for an external observer to guess who is communicating with whom).

Combin those depending on the needed protection.

Confidence

[DrYak]

Yeah right, because MITM is impossible, correct? Wrong. Because even Kaspersky AV and most AV software is doing MITM on browsers

Because, as part of the installation of the software, you installed their certificate and decided to trust it.
You are actually deciding that you won't consider your AV software maker as a "man in the middle", but as a trusted source.

(Also note that some certificate pinning systems actually prevent this type of changes : your browser will notice that suddenly the signing of a website changed from your bank to AV vendor)

You cannot have it both way. You cannot both decide to trust a company (you invite their c

America isn't actively trying to steal land there

[Zontar_Thing_From_Ve]

China is. Look up the South China Sea disputes. China and the Philippines have an ongoing major dispute about various territories there. If America steals their secrets, they aren't going to use that to gain a military advantage over the Philippines because they are security allies and the USA has no territorial claims in the disputed area. China, on the other hand, could use secret information to their advantage.

Re:America isn't actively trying to steal land the

[plague911]

Everyone is stealing everything. The US,China,Russia,Germany,UK etc etc etc are all doing their best to get ahold of every bit of information they can from everyone they can. It is childlike naivete to think anyone is not in this game. At BEST you can control WHO gets the information. Choose American made, the American's get your info easily, Choose Russian tech, the Russians AND Americans get your info, Choose Chinese tech the Chinese, Russians, Americans AND everyone including even your pet chicken get your information.

Re:

[NettiWelho]

Everyone is stealing everything. The US,China,Russia,Germany,UK etc etc etc are all doing their best to get ahold of every bit of information they can from everyone they can. It is childlike naivete to think anyone is not in this game. At BEST you can control WHO gets the information. Choose American made, the American's get your info easily, Choose Russian tech, the Russians AND Americans get your info, Choose Chinese tech the Chinese, Russians, Americans AND everyone including even your pet chicken get your information.

So what you're saying is we need an armed uprisings to replace all the leadership?

Re:

[DNS-and-BIND]

Chinese tech? A patriotic Chinese-American just got busted by the FBI for spying for his people. He was responsible for the CIA's network of spies in China being rolled up and executed for treason. How does it follow if Chinese tech is installed, the Americans get it? They have no sources in China, no leverage.

Re:

[slashrio]

It's just that this is what they (the 'opposition') are supposed to do: Oppose every proposal coming from the current government.

Re:

[slashrio]

I remember reading an article in a newspaper that said that the Philippines already voluntarily send a copy of every text and (phone) conversation to the NSA. So it's irrelevant whether 'muricunt software contains trojan (or American for that matter) horses or not.

Re:

[slashrio]

It's ironic that a product from a communist country is used to get capitalism going again in another country.

Re:

[Bob the Super Hamste]

Local News report in their native Filipino Language.

You probably mean taglish. While a joke it wasn't meant to be taken as a slight against them as just about everyone in Manila I have met speaks that mix of Tagalog and English and you hear it on the radio and TV as well.

Re:

[slashrio]

So what, wasn't it Filipinos that tried to steal 80 billion from the Central Bank of Bengladesh last year?

"Could Be"?

[Greyfox]

I assume they mean that in the same sense that the Chinese telcom "could be" Chinese?

Honestly

[Pig Hogger]

Honestly, what state secrets are there in the Philippines?

And, given how Filipinos are hated throughout Asia, who in is right mind would invade them to be stuck with them afterwards?

Re: Honestly

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't be a racist fool. China needs the Philippine govt to be on their side. China has already invaded Philippine sovereign territory and they already steal fish from Philippine seas.

War is coming. Duerte has betrayed his people.

Re:

[slashrio]

The Philippines is to China what Granada and Panama are to the USA: for the taking.
There's no war coming. Merely an invasion if you don't give them what they want.

No expertise and technology please?

[slashrio]

China Telecom's presence in the Philippines, however, does not sit well with some lawmakers, given China's telecommunications expertise and sophisticated technology.

What the heck does this mean... Philippine lawmakers don't want expertise and sophisticated technology deployed in their country? Like they want to stay in the middle ages?

Re:

[chardgomez]

China Telecom's presence in the Philippines, however, does not sit well with some lawmakers, given China's telecommunications expertise and sophisticated technology.

What the heck does this mean... Philippine lawmakers don't want expertise and sophisticated technology deployed in their country? Like they want to stay in the middle ages?

Not all lawmakers. As the summary correctly mentioned, opposition lawmakers. The headline probably gave you the impression that all lawmakers had that opinion. The opposition in the Philippines, unfortunately, seem to just be jumping at whatever it just so it can live up to its name.