China has condemned remarks by the deputy director of the American intelligence agency (CIA), in which he confirmed US intelligence operations targeting China.
Beijing is accusing Washington of using a “bandit logic” and further escalating tensions ahead of a planned meeting between the two countries’ leaders, as Chinese media outlets cite.
CIA Deputy Director Michael Ellis admitted at a cybersecurity conference earlier this week to the United States conducting economic espionage operations in response to what Washington considers the Chinese “threat.”
“Our economy is intertwined with theirs,” Ellis said, warning that this interdependence could give Beijing leverage over Washington. He added that the CIA therefore “has to respond differently.”
“We have to be able to collect foreign intelligence relevant to that economic security dimension of the competition, which means we need expertise about how to collect that information, how to analyse it,” Ellis said.
He identified strategic industries including semiconductors and biotechnology as “intelligence targets,” highlighting sectors at the centre of the increasingly intense economic and technological rivalry between the world’s two largest economies.
China’s Commerce Ministry responded on September 11 by sharply criticising the remarks and accusing Washington of openly acknowledging espionage against Chinese companies.
“The US has bluntly declared that Chinese companies are legitimate targets of espionage, tearing away the fig leaf that once concealed intelligence agencies' covert theft, and laying bare... the bandit logic of hegemony,” the ministry said.
It added that China’s advances in areas such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology “must never be treated as prey,” while accusing Washington of maintaining a “Cold War mentality.”
The ministry also accused the United States of “deliberately undermining fair competition” and “openly trampling on the norms of international trade,” warning that Beijing would take “necessary measures” to protect Chinese interests.
The dispute comes less than two weeks before US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet at the White House on September 24.
By Nazrin Sadigova
