The Threat Is Already in Your Home: How Communist China Is Targeting America's Seniors Through Connected Devices

Communist China will do whatever it takes to infiltrate the lives of the American people. The growing danger of Communist China's influence over American smart devices continues to move closer to home: on your wrist, in your medicine cabinet, and in your living room.

Last week, Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) convened a Senate Aging Committeehearing titled "Counting the Cost: Communist China's Toll on Older Americans' Health, Finances, and Security." The message from witnesses, all commissioners from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), was unambiguous: the Chinese Communist Party views America's seniors as a target, not just a market.

The Wearable You Trust Is Watching You

The most alarming takeaway from Chairman Scott's hearing may be the least visible: the device on your wrist. Smartwatches, fitness trackers, personal emergency response systems, and continuous glucose monitors are now everyday necessities for millions of older Americans. But a significant share of those devices are built with Chinese-manufactured components — and under PRC law, every company in China is compelled to share its data with the government upon demand. According to USCC Commissioner Leland Miller,“China’s National Security Law, National Intelligence Law, and Data Security Law together compel any Chinese company to hand its data to the state on demand, in secret, with no independent court able to refuse and no transparency to reveal when it happens.”

That means your heart rate, blood oxygen levels, GPS location, sleep patterns, blood glucose readings, and other private data may be quietly accessible to Xi Jinping and Communist China’s leaders. One of China's dominant IoT module manufacturers, Quectel, was recently added to the Pentagon's list of Chinese Military Companies. Yet its modules remain embedded inside consumer health devices sold under American brand names with no disclosure to buyers. Huawei and Xiaomi-linked products have been found in peer-reviewed research to carry the highest privacy risk scores of any wearables on the market, with Xiaomi scoring 60 out of 72 possible risk points.

Within days of the hearing, Chairman Scott and Senator Dave McCormick sent a letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr calling for an urgent investigation and requesting that the commission assess whether these products should be added to the federal Covered List. 

The threat extends well beyond consumer fitness trackers. In January 2025, CISA revealed that the Contec CMS8000, a Chinese-manufactured patient monitor widely deployed in U.S. hospitals and home care settings, contained a hidden backdoor hardwired to transmit patient data to servers in China. 

The risk doesn't stop with medical wearables. Senator Rick Scott’s Protect the GRID Act targets the broader category of CCP-linked smart technology, including the thermostats, appliances, and internet-connected devices that have become fixtures in American homes and businesses. These large, connected devices are just as capable of serving as entry points for espionage and data theft as any wristband, and they are often integrated directly into energy infrastructure.

Chairman Scott's hearing made clear that Communist China’s strategy is comprehensive: flood American markets with cheap, connected technology, harvest the data those devices generate, and use that intelligence to map the health, finances, routines, and vulnerabilities of tens of millions of Americans. 

Chairman Scott put it plainly in his opening statement: "Communist China is not a trade competitor that plays by different rules. It is a country whose government has made a strategic goal of weakening the United States and has decided that senior citizens are a legitimate target."

He's right. The threat is embedded in devices Americans trust with their most sensitive health data. Congress should move legislation targeted to protect Americans before more Chinese-built devices and appliances ship into American homes and track the data of millions of older Americans.