China pushes back against US sanctions for alleged trade secret theft

By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - China warned on Tuesday that it would take countermeasures against US sanctions on five Chinese companies for alleged trade secret theft, urging Washington to reverse the measures.

The Commerce Ministry said the sanctions imposed Monday under the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act seriously harmed Chinese businesses' legitimate rights and interests.

Beijing opposed Washington's use of trade secret theft allegations to stigmatize and sanction Chinese companies, it said in a statement.

It argued that China's artificial intelligence companies developed rapidly because of long-term investment in basic research and innovation, combining independent technological advances with international cooperation.

The progress had nothing to do with alleged trade secret theft, it added.

The ministry urged Washington to objectively recognize the advances of Chinese companies, stop discrediting and suppressing them and ensure fair competition while safeguarding bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

China warned it would take measures to protect its companies' legitimate interests unless the US corrected its actions.

The sanctions targeted companies linked to former Google software engineer Linwei Ding, who was convicted in January in a US trade secrets case.

The companies included Shanghai Zhisuan Technology, which Ding established in China in 2023 while working at Google, venture capital firm MiraclePlus and three associated funds.

The case concerned the theft of sensitive information about Google's artificial intelligence supercomputing infrastructure and components, and attempts to transfer it to businesses in China.

Mücahithan Avcıoğlu