The USA continues to increase efforts on countering China’s intelligence activities in America. So, on August 14, US Department of Justice published a statement on detention of two US Navy sailors of Chinese origin. According to the press announcement, machinist’s mate P. Wei served at Naval Base San Diego, California, which is the home of the Pacific Fleet. He was accused of alleged sharing data on the location of ships and technical documentation with a Chinese intelligence officer. The other sailor T. Zhao was accused of transmitting information on multilateral exercises in Asia-Pacific Region, radio detection and ranging equipment in Japan. Conspicuous is the fact that, according to materials published in the media, a few days earlier Assistant Secretary of Defense Ely Ratner spoke with PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs Director-General Yang Tao. The subject of the conversation was presented extremely concisely. Thus, the parties allegedly discussed relations in the field of defense and regional security. Ratner emphasized the importance of maintaining communication channels between the military of the two countries. Surely the above-mentioned detentions were also touched upon. Besides, the US House of Representatives Oversight Committee chaired by Rep. J. Comer has recently opened an investigation into an attack on email accounts of a group of senior US officials in May. The heads of the State and Commerce departments were asked for staff briefings on this matter. We see that the pressure from Washington on Beijing is but intensifying on all fronts. China’s government as always provides no comments over the incidents the US gave coverage to. America’s top officials, in turn, pull no punches and give China public charges. It is also important to note that the US is increasingly discovering China’s ‘spies’ on its territory. The more so for the cybersphere where after each specific incident China is directly pointed by the US as the main initiator of the hacking operations. It can be assumed that the number of discovered China’s ‘spies’ will keep growing in the future, Beijing still remaining silent.
Just the pot calling the kettle black.
You never seem to hear about American cyber attacks, though. The two countries conduct cyber warfare completely differently, the US tends to keep their exploits secret and hold them in reserve, while China uses them as much as they can until they’re discovered.
However most of the text is talking about regular spying from agents within the armed forces, not cyber attacks. Just because it involves sharing data does not make it “cyber”.