FBI's espionage accusations against China are self-serving

The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Thursday detailed a sharp rise in economic espionage cases aimed at US companies, and accused the Chinese government of sponsoring the majority of them. In hopes of "raising awareness of the growing economic espionage threat", the bureau has produced a video titled The Company Man: Protecting America's Secrets, which depicts "a real-life case of Chinese espionage. Comments:

The FBI's groundless accusations will surely hamper relations between China and the United States and give Americans the illusion that the country's economy is impeccable and so-called Chinese economic espionage is the only threat. China is fully aware that it has to learn from the technologically advanced Western nations, especially the US, and such interaction is mutually beneficial, not contemptible stealing. Judging from Edward Snowden's revelations, the FBI is staging a farce.

Global Times, July 27

What is even more noteworthy than the FBI's make-believe video is its popularity among the 1,300 US companies it was shown to. It indicates, to some extent, that people from China and the US still have some misunderstandings about one another. Many in the US remain suspicious of Beijing's efforts to protect intellectual property rights and take it for granted that most Chinese enterprises are State-owned and should not be allowed to enter their country. There is still a long way to go for both nations to build mutual trust.

ifeng.com, July 25

For propaganda purposes, Washington wants to spread the idea that the Chinese economy is about to collapse. Claiming that China's high-tech achievements are because it has stolen US technological secrets is baseless and far-fetched.

Ni Feng, a researcher on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, July 26

On the one hand, the FBI's wild accusations are a necessary response to US companies under its protection. On the other, it needs reasons to get more financial support, in a bid to avoid being marginalized in the country's anti-terrorism deployment.

Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at the Renmin University of China, July 26