President Trump turned the spotlight on China’s infiltration into every corner of American life.
But there’s one threat hiding in plain sight that should terrify every American.
And one alarming campaign in Florida exposed what China is doing inside American hospitals.
The Chinese Communist Party isn’t just buying farmland or spying through TikTok anymore.
They’re inside America’s hospitals right now, monitoring patients through medical devices manufactured in China that transmit sensitive health data straight to Beijing.
A new campaign by the Protecting America Initiative just pulled back the curtain on one of China’s most insidious operations on U.S. soil.
"China wants our data. And now, they’re using our own hospitals to get it," the PAI’s six-figure ad warns.¹
The 30-second spot titled "Monitoring" runs on TV and digital platforms in Florida, hammering home a message that should make every American’s blood run cold.
"Not only is China monitoring our phones, but they’re using lifesaving medical technology from Chinese companies," the ad continues. "At check-ups, during surgery — Americans are vulnerable to Chinese data mining… without ever knowing it."¹
https://twitter.com/ProtectUSInit/status/1981345422452150770
President Trump’s already cracking down on China’s economic warfare, but Florida Republicans need to step up and finish the job.
FBI caught Chinese company bribing American researchers to steal medical data
The threat isn’t theoretical.
Shanghai-based United Imaging has embedded its hardware in some of America’s top research labs, including facilities funded by the National Institutes of Health.²
United Imaging worked alongside China’s People’s Liberation Army and the state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences, which operates directly under China’s State Council and is led by a Communist Party member who pledged allegiance to "Xi Jinping’s thoughts on socialism."²
But it gets worse.
The FBI charged three United Imaging affiliates in 2013 with bribing employees at an NIH-funded lab to transfer "nonpublic information" about their research to United Imaging and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.²
These weren’t rogue actors.
This was industrial espionage coordinated with Beijing’s blessing, and they got caught red-handed stealing American medical research that U.S. taxpayers funded.
Chinese medical devices have backdoors that transmit patient data to Beijing
The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning earlier this year about patient monitors made by Chinese company Contec.³
The devices contain a software backdoor that, once connected to the internet, "begins gathering patient data, including personally identifiable information and protected health information, and exfiltrating the data outside of the health care delivery environment."³
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency confirmed the backdoor enables remote actors to engage in "remote code execution and device modification with the ability to alter its configuration."³
Translation: Chinese operatives can remotely access these devices, steal patient data, and potentially alter how the equipment functions.
Imagine a patient monitor that stops alerting doctors to a drop in heart rate or sends incorrect readings that lead to the wrong diagnosis.
That’s not a hypothetical threat.
That’s what these backdoors enable, and Chinese-made medical devices are all over U.S. hospitals and clinics.
The University of Utah has multiple United Imaging PET scanners installed in its clinical research lab.²
Mass General Brigham, a Harvard-affiliated hospital that serves as one of the nation’s leading biomedical research organizations, used an NIH grant to purchase hardware manufactured by United Imaging.²
A search of Google Scholar turns up thousands of research articles mentioning United Imaging or its flagship uEXPLORER PET scanner, often noting the hardware was used in NIH-funded research.²
Florida’s leading the charge against China while Biden’s people funded the threat
Governor Ron DeSantis has been out in front fighting China’s infiltration into Florida for years.
He signed legislation in 2023 that banned Chinese citizens from buying land near military bases and critical infrastructure, kicked Confucius Institutes out of Florida universities, and restricted colleges from building relationships with Chinese entities.⁴
In June, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued subpoenas to companies suspected of selling devices that could send patient data to China.¹
https://twitter.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/1961414024278466900
But the Biden-Harris administration actually helped China embed this surveillance network into American healthcare.
The National Institutes of Health — a federal agency — funded the purchase of Chinese-manufactured medical devices and supported joint research ventures with United Imaging, a company that collaborated with China’s military.²
Biden’s people handed Chinese spies access to American medical research and patient data, all while warning about "Russian disinformation."
The Protecting America Initiative’s polling from September found 75% of Americans are concerned about importing Chinese medical devices.¹
But concern isn’t enough.
"President Trump’s already getting tough on China, but Florida Republicans can do more," the PAI ad states. "Let’s end the data breaches once and for all. Let’s get China out of our health care."¹
China’s "Made in China 2025" plan targets American medical devices
Beijing isn’t hiding what they’re doing.
Under the Chinese Communist Party’s "Made in China 2025" plan, China aims to boost local production of core materials and components for high-tier medical devices by 70% between 2020 and 2025, and by 95% by 2030.⁵
Part of this plan involves utilizing the large volumes of patient data held by the Chinese government and local health offices.⁵
They’re not just building medical devices.
They’re building a surveillance network that captures American health data at every point of care, from routine check-ups to complex surgeries.
And they’re using American research dollars to do it.
The development of United Imaging’s flagship uEXPLORER scanner was a joint venture with the University of California, Davis, supported by NIH funding.²
https://twitter.com/RyanAFournier/status/1980920979552694516
American taxpayers literally funded the creation of Chinese surveillance equipment that’s now monitoring patients across the United States.
President Trump designated the Chinese Communist Party as America’s greatest national security threat and took unprecedented action to counter China’s economic warfare.
He’s rebuilding America’s domestic manufacturing base for critical industries like defense, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices.³
But state-level action is needed to root out the Chinese surveillance equipment that’s already embedded in American hospitals and research labs.
Florida’s leading that charge, but every state needs to follow.
The next time you go to the hospital for a routine check-up or imaging scan, that medical device monitoring your vitals might be sending your health data straight to Beijing.
¹ "New Six-Figure Ad Campaign Highlights National Security Threat of Chinese-Made Medical Supplies," Protecting America Initiative, October 2025.
² "Espionage-linked Chinese company embedded in top US research labs," Washington Examiner, October 12, 2025.
³ "Chinese medical devices pose national security threat to US," Fox News Opinion, October 23, 2025.
⁴ "Gov. Ron DeSantis signs legislation banning Chinese citizens from buying land in state," Fox 13 Tampa Bay, May 8, 2023.
⁵ "Assessing the risk from Chinese-manufactured IoT-connected healthcare devices," Pamir Consulting, 2024.
