A US congressional advisory panel said yesterday that Chinese spies are aggressively stealing US secrets to use in building up Beijing’s military and economic strength.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, set up by Congress in 2000 to advise, investigate and report on US-China affairs, said US officials believe Chinese spying is “growing in scale, intensity and sophistication.”
“China is the most aggressive country conducting espionage against the United States,” the report says.
Wang Baodong (王寶東), spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, called the spying allegations “baseless, unwarranted and irresponsible.”
He called the commission’s suggestion that China’s navy is being built up to challenge the US in the Pacific a “Cold War fantasy.”
Chinese military spending, he said, is only a fraction of Washington’s.
More generally, Wang criticized the commission for recycling old, unproven allegations and for issuing an annual report “aimed at misleading the American public.”
The report said China is the origin for much of the sharply rising malicious computer attacks against the US this year.
China’s increased targeting of US government and defense computer systems, the report said, could “destroy critical infrastructure, disrupt commerce and banking systems and compromise sensitive defense and military data.”
Among the commission’s recommendations are for Congress to review the US ability to meet the “rising challenge” of Chinese spying and to fend off computer attacks.
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