US Ambassador Baucus Says China Cyber Theft Is a Threat

The US will use diplomatic and legal means to halt China’s computer theft of trade secrets, its new ambassador in Beijing said, amid escalating tensions between the two sides over cybersecurity.

“Cyber-enabled theft of trade secrets by state actors in China has emerged as a major threat to our economic and thus national security,” said Ambassador Max Baucus. “Besides being criminal in nature, this behavior runs counter to China’s WTO commitments,” Ambassador Baucus said, referring to the terms China agreed to when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. “We won’t sit idly by when a crime is committed in the real world, so why should we when it happens in cyber space? We will continue to use diplomatic and legal means to make clear that this type of behavior must stop.”