The partner countries’ warning is the first time they have officially criticised China for what they claim to be a large IP theft campaign.
Last week, the heads of intelligence for the five nations known as the Five Eyes—the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Britain—issued a stern warning to China on what it perceives to be a vast, multifaceted effort to steal intellectual property. The joint declaration by the countries is the first time China has been officially criticised for its alleged wrongdoings, which it firmly refutes. The Five Eyes leaders’ action escalates the rivalry between China and the other nations as they compete to stifle Beijing’s advancement of cutting-edge technologies for both military and surveillance uses.
According to Reuters, the statement accuses China of a planned Intellectual theft effort that included hacking and espionage. The nations issued the declaration following meetings with notable Silicon Valley-based businesses, although the names of the businesses were omitted from the report. Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, said in the statement that the nations had to make their positions known in order to thwart what he called a “unprecedented” campaign by China to steal other nations’ most closely-guarded technological secrets.
“China has long targeted firms with a web of approaches all at once,” said Wray, “including cyber breaches, operations involving human intelligence, and seemingly innocent corporate investments and transactions.” Every thread in that network had grown brazener and more perilous. The Australian counterpart of Mr. Wray reiterated his remarks, saying that “the Chinese government is engaged in the most large scaled and sophisticated theft of intellectual property and expertise in human history.”
A month ago, Reuters published a story about an Australian academic from China who was visiting three universities when security forces searched his flat and took his laptop. The individual was a researcher in foreign affairs who was sent back to China, but his return created a security gap for academics who shared research between the two nations and may have been related to the campaign mentioned in the Five Eyes declaration.
China, on the other hand, refutes the accusations, claiming they are a product of a disinformation campaign being run by the West. A representative for the Chinese embassy in Washington issued a statement to Reuters saying, “We firmly oppose the baseless charges and smears regarding China and hope the relevant parties can assess China’s development objectively and fairly.”