WASHINGTON — U.S. national security officials say China’s cyberthreats and the theft of intellectual property from American companies pose large economic and national security challenges for the United States.
Assistant Attorney General John Demers said Wednesday that the U.S. “cannot tolerate a nation that steals the fruit of our brainpower.”
Demers and other officials testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about espionage threats from China.
Demers says China has shown, in some cases, that it wants to steal American technology and copy it. He says the country’s playbook is to “rob, replicate and replace.”
He says China’s espionage activity has been “steadily increasing” in the last few years. The Justice Department has filed several charges against Chinese hackers and intelligence officials in recent months.
Michael Balsamo, The Associated Press
