Vicki Needham

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said that he will continue to press China toward changing it cybersecurity policies to better protect US companies from intellectual property theft.

Secretary Lew said he hoped to make more progress on closing the gap between the views held by Washington and Beijing over the role governments play in protecting trade secrets during the next round of the US-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue.

"We do not view it as an acceptable practice for governmental entities to participate in the process of securing trade secrets for the economic benefits of firms in their country," Sec Lew said. “We’ve made clear how unacceptable it is for those practices to go on,” he said. “It’s just a difference between how we do business. We just don’t engage in activity like that. We don’t condone it.”

Sec Lew said it is important to continue the cyber discussion, which developed as part of dialogue in 2013. "I'm optimistic that we are going to be able to make some progress again this year," Sec Lew said.

Sen Charles Schumer (D-NY) called on US Trade Representative Michael Froman to file a case against China over its cyber spying.

Sen Schumer urged Froman to file a case against Beijing at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in response to cyberattacks on US businesses.

"The sanctioning of these attacks, in which Chinese military officials have illegally gathered corporate information from members of the US solar, nuclear and metal industries is a threat not just to these specific companies, but to our entire economy," Sen Schumer wrote.

The Justice Department issued criminal indictments on five members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army for online theft of trade secrets from US firms.

Sen Schumer said that since China won't extradite those involved to go on trial here, US government officials have to seek damages through a WTO suit. "Cyber-attacks from China and other nations could prove crippling to American businesses in the years to come, so we need real teeth in our response,” Sen Schumer said. "DOJ did the right thing in filing these indictments, but the only way to really punish China for these outrageous attacks is through the WTO."