The Ministry of Commerce of China File photo: VCG

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) expressed serious concern and firm opposition on Friday to the US labeling Chinese companies as legitimate espionage targets, sternly warning the US to immediately stop espionage activities against China, including against Chinese enterprises.

The remarks were made by a MOFCOM spokesperson after CIA Deputy Director Michael Ellis claimed publicly that the US is conducting broader espionage activities targeting China, including Chinese companies, in response to what he described as China's dual threat in the military and economic spheres. 

"The US has brazenly declared that it will designate Chinese enterprises as legitimate targets for espionage, completely stripping away the fig leaf concealing its intelligence agencies' covert theft of secrets and lays bare the hegemonic logic of coercion. China expresses grave concern and firm opposition to this," a MOFCOM spokesperson said when asked to comment on Ellis' claims.

Notably, Ellis claimed that the CIA is treating Chinese companies in fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors and biotechnology as legitimate targets for espionage.

"China sternly warns the US to immediately cease espionage activities against China, including against Chinese enterprises, and to stop all actions that undermine China's sovereignty, security, and development interests," the MOFCOM spokesperson said. 

China has a firm will and abundant means, and will, in accordance with the Counter-Espionage Law and other laws and regulations, resolutely take necessary measures, severely punish illegal and criminal acts, and firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, the spokesperson stated.

The Chinese side's stern warning is warranted as the US' move of openly treating economic competitors and foreign companies as legitimate intelligence targets breaches basic boundaries and upends established international understandings of the limits of intelligence activities, according to Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

"The US has long used its intelligence capabilities to conduct large-scale information gathering against other countries, adding that such remarks would push US credibility to a new low and heighten international vigilance over the risks posed by its intelligence apparatus," Zhou told the Global Times on Friday. 

The MOFCOM spokesperson also slammed the US move as wantonly undermining fair competition and adopting a Cold War mentality rooted in zero-sum thinking. 

"What the US has done is a typical example of saying one thing and doing another," the spokesperson said. On one hand, the US has issued a Presidential Policy Directive in 2014, which explicitly stipulated that intelligence activities must not be used to collect foreign private commercial information or trade secrets for the purpose of giving US companies or commercial sectors a competitive advantage; on the other, the US has disregarded the very boundaries it set for itself, with its intelligence agencies having conducted large-scale cyber espionage and intelligence-gathering operations against countries around the world, the spokesperson noted. 

Zhou also pointed out that by openly treating economic competitors and foreign companies as legitimate intelligence targets, the US' approach could ultimately backfire by alienating even US allies and partners.

The MOFCOM spokesperson also slammed the US move to smear China with the so-called dual threat claims, which is nothing but a hegemonic narrative that confuses right and wrong, and malicious slander with ulterior motives. 

China's technological breakthroughs in fields such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and biotechnology are the fruits of the hard work of Chinese researchers and enterprises, and are by no means prey that US intelligence agencies can covet at will, according to the spokesperson. 

"In essence, the US move stems from anxiety over China's scientific and technological progress. However, espionage, secret theft, and hegemonic suppression cannot stop the pace of innovation and progress of Chinese companies, nor can they win true technological leadership. The US open and brazen theft of secrets is doomed to fail," the spokesperson said.