Cyberattacks are a major issue between the United States and China, the two sides often talk about this to try and it’s not uncommon to see accusations fly. The fact that is given the nature of these operations and the nations involved the truth is not always in black and white, particularly to the public. For its part the United States seems to be willing to impose “unprecedented” sanctions on China to punish it for a string of alleged commercial cyberattacks, claims a new report by The Washington Post.
According to the Post’s report, which cites U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity, the Obama administration is planning to impose “unprecedented” sanctions against Beijing as a response to a recent string of alleged commercial cyberattacks.
The administration will reportedly justify the sanctions by saying that Chinese companies have taken advantage and benefitted from cyber-theft of U.S. trade secrets such as intellectual property like “search engine source code,” corporate and trade secrets.
Apparently the administration is as yet undecided on whether or not it wants to push ahead with this but the White House is expected to make a final call on the matter soon. A spokesperson for the White House declined to comment when contacted by the scribe.
If the administration does go through with this the sanctions will arrive a few weeks before Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington next month. Last week a spokesperson for the White House confirmed that there is “no doubt” that this matter will be on the agenda.
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