With new indictment, US launches aggressive campaign to counter China's economic attacks


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The Justice Ministry on Thursday unveiled a new initiative aimed at fighting what it claims to be a growing criminal economic activity on the part of China, announcing that US authorities have accused three Chinese and one Chinese company of theft of trade secrets.

Thursday's actions follow a series of gestures designed to put Beijing on notice. The Trump administration has prioritized the fight against threats to US national and economic security, with China seeking to supplant the United States as the world's dominant economic power. The administration has already imposed tariffs on Chinese goods worth $ 250 billion and since September, federal prosecutors have laid charges in three cases of theft of intellectual property involving spies and hackers Chinese.

"The Chinese economic espionage against the United States has increased – and it has grown rapidly," said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. "Too much is too much, we will not take it anymore."

According to Sessions, the ministry will vigorously pursue secret flight case research and develop an identification strategy for researchers and defense industry employees who have been "co-opted" by Chinese agents to transfer intelligence. technology in China, Sessions announced.

"China wants the fruits of the American spirit to reap the seeds of its planned economic dominance," said Deputy Attorney General John Demers. With this new initiative, he said, "we will face the evil behavior of China and encourage them to behave as they aspire to become one of the world's leading countries".

The indictment alleges that the conspirators conspired to steal trade secrets from Micron, a semiconductor company based in Idaho. Micron has an estimated value of $ 100 billion and a 20 to 25 percent share of the dynamic RAM sector, a technology that the Chinese have not had so far, Sessions said.

He introduced a number of laws that prosecutors would use, including the Foreign Agent Registration Act, to identify unregistered agents seeking to advance China's political agenda.

In August, Congress passed the Foreign Investment Risk Modernization Modernization Act to expand the government's authority to review investments from foreign countries – a response to China's efforts to to obtain American technology through mergers, acquisitions and takeovers. Last month, the Treasury Department issued interim rules for the implementation of the new law. The sessions indicated that the Ministry of Justice would collaborate with the Treasury in the development of these regulations.

Justice will also address the Chinese threats to US companies that provide components for sensitive technologies, particularly those in the telecommunications sector, in view of the transition to 5G networks.

"This is consistent with the state of confrontation actions conducted in recent weeks by the administration to tackle everything that China is trying to do," said Samm Sacks, senior researcher at the Center. strategic and international studies. "It's more important than the theft of intellectual property. This is the risk of the supply chain. China's efforts to become world leaders in 5G. It's a traditional espionage. These are influence operations. This is part of a much broader, whole-of-government approach aimed at thwarting China's efforts to gain a strategic advantage, particularly in emerging technologies. "

For months, the Trump administration has been studying ways to decouple the American and Chinese technology sectors: visa restrictions for Chinese students in the scientific, technical and mathematical fields, ban on Chinese telecommunications equipment companies from US 5G networks, strengthening export controls for US technology companies, and increased official oversight of Chinese investments and joint US-China research, said Sacks.

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