China Suspends Cybersecurity Cooperation After U.S. Charges
By Bloomberg News May 20, 2014 12:15 AM ET
China suspended its involvement in a cybersecurity working group and threatened further retaliation after the U.S. indicted five Chinese military officials for allegedly stealing trade secrets.
The indictment is a “serious violation of the basic norms of international relations and damaged China-U.S. cooperation and mutual trust,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement. Assistant Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang summoned U.S. Ambassador Max Baucus yesterday to lodge a formal protest, the ministry said today.
Qin’s sharply worded statement reflected how the charges, which accused China of a vast effort to mine U.S. technology through cyber-espionage, added new strains to a relationship already tested by past allegations of hacking. Former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden claimed last year that the U.S had been hacking into computers in China since 2009.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-20/china-suspends-cybersecurity-cooperation-with-u-s-after-charges.html
