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Congressman Berates Chinese Cyberespionage

October 6, 2011 | From theTrumpet.com


On Tuesday, Rep. Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, lambasted the Chinese government and its drive to steal online data and intellectual property, saying China’s cyberespionage attacks have “reached an intolerable level.” Rogers said the United States and its allies have an “obligation to confront Beijing and demand that they put a stop to this piracy.”

According to Rogers’s assessment, China’s spying activities now extend beyond the U.S. military and government, delving into many private American companies. “Beijing is waging a massive trade war on us all, and we should band together to pressure them to stop,” he said.

“I don’t believe that there is a precedent in history for such a massive and sustained intelligence effort by a government to blatantly steal commercial data and intellectual property,” Rogers said.

Former cia Director Michael Hayden also weighed in on the trend, and affirmed that the scope of China’s cyberattacks is staggering. “I step back in awe at the breadth, depth, sophistication and persistence of the Chinese espionage effort against the United States of America,” he said.

Beijing repeatedly denies that it is sponsoring cyberespionage, but it is clear that China uses cyberattacks to steal proprietary information, thereby accelerating China’s technology development and advancing its global position by great strides.

Many of the U.S. companies that have been victims of the attacks have been afraid to come forward for fear that their computers would be targeted for even more attacks.

Besides the sobering military implications, China is marginalizing the U.S. both politically and economically. It all adds up to render the U.S. increasingly vulnerable, and China more and more powerful. •