Well-known Chinese news site Sohu (NASDAQ: SOHU) recently reported that, in July, the Baltic State of Lithuania allowed Taiwan to set up a “representative office” under the name “Taiwan,” leading to a sudden escalation of diplomatic tension between the two countries, Lithuania and China. Now the Ministry of National Defense of Lithuania released an investigation report, claiming that content censorship “features” have been found in mobile phones produced by some Chinese companies like Xiaomi. The Ministry even advised consumers to avoid buying Chinese mobile phones or to trash them if they currently own such equipment. The National Cyber Security Center of the Ministry of Defense of Lithuania indicated that Xiaomi’s flagship phones have built-in detection and censorship functions which can be turned on remotely. Xiaomi’s encrypted mobile phone usage data is transmitted to a server in Singapore. Similar loopholes have also been found on one Huawei model. According to Deutsche Welle Chinese Edition, the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) confirmed that, based on the Lithuania Report, it has launched an investigation into allegations of security vulnerabilities in Chinese mobile phones such as Xiaomi.
Sources:
(1) Sohu, September 22, 2021
https://www.sohu.com/a/491346708_115479
(2) DW Chinese, September 25, 2021
https://p.dw.com/p/40qBc