US charges China's army officers with cyber theft

Reflecting concern about Internet security, the United States has said it won't tolerate government-sponsored cyber theft of trade secrets even as it brought cyber-espionage charges against China's five military officers for allegedly stealing classified corporate information.

"The government-sponsored, cyber-enabled theft of trade secrets and other sensitive business information for commercial gain is not something we can tolerate," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.

In the first-ever charges against known state actors, the US on Monday indicted five officers of China's powerful military for serious cyber security breaches and allegedly stealing trade secrets from six American entities including Westinghouse Electric.

"Today's (Monday) announcement reflects is our growing concerns that the behavior that's been identified by China has continued, and it's not acceptable. It is in the interest of both nations to pursue cooperation and coordination on these issues. And we will continue to work toward that end in our engagement with China," he said.

"We will pursue our interests across the board in our engagement with China. But where we see significant problems, where we see a failure to play by the rules, we're not going to shy away from discussing that directly or publicly, or taking the kind of action that the announcement reflects," he added.

The state department hoped that the action against Chinese military personnel would not affect the bilateral ties. "We expect the Chinese government to understand that the announcement relates to the law enforcement investigation of individuals who have stolen intellectual property from US businesses," state department Spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters.

"We remain deeply concerned about the Chinese government sponsored cyber-enabled theft of trade secrets and other sensitive business information for commercial gain. And again, this was specific to the actions of just a few individuals, and we hope that the Chinese government can understand that," she said.

Meanwhile, top American lawmakers have urged the Obama administration to take strong action against the cyber-espionage by China.

"Commercial cyber theft is rife, and China is by far the largest offender. It is long past time for strong action to deter those who would seek to profit by stealing American innovation," Senator Carl Levin chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said.

Several lawmakers hailed the federal grand jury for indicting five Chinese military hackers accused of allegedly stealing valuable commercial information from six American entities.

"These charges are an important first step, both in terms of bringing these five individuals to justice, as well as holding the Chinese government accountable for its campaign of cyber economic espionage against American companies," house permanent select committee on intelligence chairman Mike Rogers and ranking member Dutch Ruppersberger said.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg -- there are thousands of Peopl's Liberation Army hackers working every day, at the behest of the Chinese government, to steal American trade secrets and the jobs that result from our innovation," they said.

They said the US must hold Beijing accountable and pressurise the Chinese government to stop manipulating the free market through its use of cyber economic espionage.

Image: The FBI issued a wanted poster for the five Chinese military officers. Photograph: Courtesy FBI