White House plans sanctions against China and Russia for cyber attacks
US to sanction Russian and Chinese companies suspected of benefiting from cyber espionage against US targets
The US is preparing sanctions against companies and individuals in China and Russia that White House officials suspect have benefited from conducting cyber espionage against US companies.
Officials told The Wall Street Journal that plans to implement sanctions against perpetrators and beneficiaries of cyber theft are in an advanced stage, and will involve a number of government agencies.
Sanctioning Chinese and Russian organisations would affect their ability to access markets in the US, sell their products in the country and even prevent officials from the organisations travelling to America.
It is thought that the US is targeting around five companies and, while sanctions aren't yet definite, they're in the very advanced stages of preparation.
However, the White House is said to be delaying imposing sanctions until after an official visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping this month, as such a strategy would cause tensions during meetings with President Barack Obama.
Despite regular accusations by US officials - director of national intelligence James Clapper recently described China as the leading suspect in the recent Office of Personnel Management hack against the US government - China outright denies that it is perpetrating cyber crime against US organisations.
"The Chinese government staunchly upholds cyber security, firmly opposes and combats all forms of cyber attacks in accordance with law," said Chinese Embassy spokesman Zhu Haiquan said in a statement.
He added that "groundless speculation, hyping up or accusation is not helpful to solve the problem" of dealing with cyber crime.
The comments demonstrate the fragile relationship between the US and China over the issue of cyber crime, with both sides accusing the other of having committed cyber attacks and cyber espionage against organisations within their borders.
"The US, as we all know, has sharp disagreements with China over its actions in cyber space," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told Reuters.
"We have remained deeply concerned about Chinese government-sponsored cyber-enabled theft of confidential business information and proprietary technology from US companies," he added.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest declined to comment on suggestions that the US was considering sanctions against Chinese and Russian companies, but told reporters that concerns over Chinese attitudes to cyber crime were "not a surprise" to Beijing.
"It would be strategically unwise for us to discuss potential sanctions targets because that would only give the potential targets of sanctions the opportunity to take steps that would allow them to evade those sanctions," he said.
One of the American organisations that is suspected to be the victim of Chinese hackers is United Airlines, which was the target of an outside intrusion earlier this year.