Legal News

China to DOJ: Stop Your Cold War Thinking!

By Dan Slater

On Tuesday, we reported news of arrests made by the DOJ in unrelated cases of alleged Chinese espionage in California and Virginia. (See stories here, here, and here.) Prosecutors said the two cases were part of Beijing’s determined efforts to acquire American technology through espionage.

Yesterday, the temperature on that story rose a bit as China denied it was conducting espionage operations in the U.S. At a news conference, Liu Jianchao, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said the spying accusations were baseless and undermined relations between the countries.

“We urge the U.S. to stop its cold war thinking and stop groundless accusations and do more to contribute to mutual trust and friendship between our two peoples,” Liu said. “I think everyone is weary of this kind of farce, and it should end.”

According to reports, German and British intelligence officials have also warned recently that China has stepped up its efforts to collect military secrets and advanced technology.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 15, 2008 (boomark / email).