The technology confrontation between the United States and China has escalated sharply: the Trump administration imposed sanctions on five Chinese companies connected to a case of trade secrets theft from Google, and Beijing responded with fury and threats of countermeasures.
China's Commerce Ministry announced Tuesday that it strongly opposes the American move, which it says seriously harms the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese businesses.
In a sharp statement, the ministry called the sanctions "an extremely serious act" and demanded that Washington correct what it termed a mistaken policy. At the same time, it warned that China will take "necessary measures," without specifying what those would be.
The sanctions were announced a day earlier by the US State Department and target five companies linked to Linwei Ding, a former Google engineer convicted of stealing trade secrets in the field of artificial intelligence.
Ding founded the Chinese technology company Shanghai Zhisuan Technology. According to the State Department, he presented his experience at Google and claimed that the company he founded could replicate the technology used by the American tech giant to operate advanced computing infrastructure in the field of artificial intelligence.
One of the companies included in the sanctions is MiraclePlus, a Chinese technology startup accelerator program that provided initial funding to Zhisuan in exchange for equity in the company. Three other Chinese companies that were sanctioned are also connected to MiraclePlus.
The US State Department claimed that Zhisuan was knowingly involved in the theft of significant trade secrets from American entities, or benefited from such theft. According to the announcement, the actions occurred beginning January 5, 2023.
