Accusing China of vast business spying, the United States charged five military officials on Monday with hacking into U.S. companies to steal vital trade secrets in a case intensifying already-rising tensions between the international economic giants.
The Chinese targeted big-name American makers of nuclear and solar technology, stealing confidential business information, sensitive trade secrets and internal communications for competitive advantage, according to a grand jury indictment that the Justice Department said should be a national “wake-up call” about cyber intrusions.
The alleged targets were Alcoa World Alumina, Westinghouse Electric Co., Allegheny Technologies, U.S. Steel Corp., the United Steelworkers Union and SolarWorld. The indictment, which includes charges of trade-secret theft and economic espionage, was issued in Pittsburgh, where most of the companies are based.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the issue of cyber security is a top priority for the Obama administration.
“This is an issue that has been brought up by President Obama with President Xi in their meetings as recently as in March,” said Carney, “we have consistently and candidly raised these concerns with the Chinese government and today’s announcement reflects our growing concerns that this Chinese behavior has continued.”
China denied it all. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said the charges were based on “fabricated facts” and would jeopardize China-U.S. “cooperation and mutual trust.”
James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said it would be difficult for the Chinese to curb cyber espionage as it remains a central tenet of the Chinese economy, but the U.S. “needs to see them moving in the right direction.”
“So far the cost, the loss from cyber espionage has been outweighed by the benefits of access to the China market,” said Lewis, “I think we’re reaching the point where that isn’t true anymore.”
The new indictment attempts to distinguish spying for national security purposes – which the U.S. admits doing – from economic espionage intended to gain commercial advantage for private companies or industries, which the U.S. denies it does. Classified documents disclosed by former National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden have described aggressive U.S. efforts to eavesdrop on foreign communications that would be illegal in those countries.
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