In a statement he read at a news conference, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said: “The range of trade secrets and other sensitive business information stolen in this case is significant and demands an aggressive response. . . . Success in the international marketplace should be based solely on a company’s ability to innovate and compete, not on a sponsor government’s ability to spy and steal business secrets.”
Holder said the Obama administration “will not tolerate actions by any nation that seeks to illegally sabotage American companies and undermine the integrity of fair competition in the operation of the free market.”
In response, China’s Foreign Ministry charged Monday that the U.S. government “fabricated facts” in the indictment, which it said “seriously violates basic norms of international relations and damages Sino-U.S. cooperation and mutual trust.” It said China lodged a “protest” with the United States, urging it to “correct the error immediately and withdraw its so-called prosecution.”
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang denied in a statement that Chinese government, military and “associated personnel” have ever engaged in “the theft of trade secrets through cyber means.” Qin called the U.S. accusations “purely fictitious, extremely absurd.”
Contrary to U.S. claims, “China is the victim of U.S. theft and cyber-surveillance,” Qin said.
