Millions of Americans depend on medical devices — pacemakers, infusion pumps and patient monitors — to stay alive. But some of that equipment is made in China, and it may be spying on us – or worse.
In January 2025, the Food and Drug Administration and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a stark joint warning: patient monitors made by Contec Medical Systems, a Chinese company based in Qinhuangdao, contain a hidden backdoor. These devices, used in hospitals across the United States, can transmit sensitive patient data to a hard-coded IP address in China. Even more troubling, the backdoor allows remote code execution, potentially letting an adversary manipulate displayed vital signs and trigger dangerous clinical decisions.
There is no patch to fix it. For China, it’s a feature, not a bug.
China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law requires every Chinese company to assist state intelligence operations on demand. When Beijing says open the door, the company complies. The implications for any Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked device in America’s healthcare system are clear and unacceptable.
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President Donald Trump recognized the danger early. In September 2025, his administration launched a Section 232 national security investigation into medical equipment imports, citing the risk that foreign powers could weaponize supply chains. Investigators discovered CCP-linked devices even in U.S. government-funded research labs.
Dependence on an adversarial foreign supplier using state subsidies to dominate American competitors is bad enough. But add to that, the threat of sudden export cutoffs in a crisis as we saw during COVID-19 and the peril is heightened. If hospitals rely on compromised supply chains, patients could be left without lifesaving technology when it matters most.
Thankfully, Texas is not waiting on Washington for further needed action. While congressional gridlock has stalled federal progress, the Lone Star State acted.
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Republican Gov. Greg Abbott banned CCP-affiliated technologies from state government systems and, in June 2025, signed legislation creating the Texas Cyber Command to hunt down and eliminate threats from hostile foreign nations. Late last year, the governor expanded the state’s prohibited technology list to include 26 more China-linked companies — hardware makers and AI platforms with direct CCP ties. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed multiple lawsuits against these firms operating inside our borders.
The public supports this stand. Texans understand that national security doesn’t stop at the border or the battlefield — it extends to the devices monitoring our loved ones in the hospital.
Statutory tools already exist. What’s needed now is to extend those protections directly into state healthcare procurement. That’s exactly where Texas Republicans are stepping up.
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In recent days, the Texas Public Policy Foundation — where we work — sent a letter to state leaders urging further action. The letter, cosigned by 53 members of the legislature, calls for commonsense measures: direct state health agencies to adopt procurement standards barring medical devices from CCP-linked companies; establish a review process for existing contracts and equipment to root out vulnerabilities; and partner with lawmakers to offer grants and preferences that incentivize American-made medical devices.
In our Army careers, one of us was an intelligence officer and the other, a doctor. We spent years studying national security threats and this fight is personal. Critical infrastructure — including healthcare — must never become the soft underbelly of America’s defenses. No Texas patient should have their medical data transmitted to a server in China, or potentially their medical care disrupted or held hostage by the CCP. No Texas hospital should remain one firmware update away from undetected interference. And no state that has already confronted CCP aggression should leave its medical infrastructure as the last open door.
Texas is once again showing the nation how to lead. We have the framework. We have the public mandate. We have the resolve. Now we must finish the job — before a crisis forces our hand.
The rest of America is watching. Let’s show them what real action looks like.
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Dr. Clifford Porter, MD, PhD is a senior fellow, Healthcare Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and a retired U.S. Army colonel.
