US targets China over trade secrets

Observers have warned that continued US accusations that China is stealing its trade secrets risk a trade war between the two countries, as Washington Wednesday rolled out a plan to deal with the alleged threat to American businesses as well as security from China and other nations.

The US strategy includes working with like-minded governments to put pressure on guilty parties, using trade policy tools, increasing criminal prosecutions and launching a 120-day review to see whether new US legislation is needed, Reuters reported.

Although the White House report did not cite China by name, it listed 17 cases of theft of trade secrets allegedly committed by Chinese companies or individuals since 2010, far more than any other country mentioned in the report.

The cases cited mostly involved employees stealing trade secrets on the job rather than cyber attacks, an accusation which has been made against China's military in recent days.

When asked to comment on the White House report, an official at China's foreign ministry told the Global Times Thursday that China's stance on the issue is consistent with comments made the previous day regarding alleged hacking against US firms.

The ministry's spokesperson Hong Lei Wednesday denied such allegations, calling them "unprofessional and irresponsible."

Zhou Shijian, a senior researcher with the Center for US-China Relations at Tsinghua University, dismissed the report and said the US accusations were "making trouble out of nothing."

"Such accusations will damage Sino-US ties and discredit the US government and media in the end," he said, citing the case of Chinese American scientist Wen Ho Lee, who was accused of revealing nuclear warhead technology to China and released in 2000 after federal investigators and the US government were unable to prove the charges.

The report came on the heels of coverage by US media on US Internet security company Mandiant's claim that a Shanghai-based Chinese military unit has stolen business secrets from at least 141 organizations in 20 industries.

The timing of the release of the White House report shows that US companies, the media and the government have worked seamlessly to sensationalize the so-called China threat, Wu Xinbo, associate dean of the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Wu said that this series of moves is aimed at forcing China to accept US terms when laying out international rules on cyber security.

"The US administration should get rid of political factors influencing Sino-US trade relations," Zhou noted, adding that hyping Chinese espionage would delay US technology transfers to China.

"If the Obama administration continues to make provocative acts concerning the so-called espionage issue, the episode will escalate into a trade war," Zhou said, noting that this would not be in the interests of the US, which seeks to significantly boost its exports.