China summons US envoy over cyber theft episode

China summoned US Ambassador Max Baucus over the American indictment of five Chinese military personnel allegedly for cyber espionage.

Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang summoned Baucus Monday night and lodged a protest against the indictment, Xinhua reported citing the foreign ministry statement Tuesday.

The five Chinese military personnel were allegedly involved in cyber-espionage and hacking into American companies' computer networks to steal trade secrets.

The US seriously violated the norms of international relations, breached China-US cooperation in cyber security and badly hurt China-US ties by fabricating information and indicting Chinese military officers on allegations of cyber theft, Zheng said.

China expressed strong indignation and opposition to the move by the US, he added.

Describing China as a staunch defender of cyber security, Zheng said none of the country's government personnel, military personnel, or individuals have ever participated or been involved in cyber theft of trade secrets.

The US accusation against the Chinese personnel was groundless and ill-intentioned, he said.

The US attorney's office, however, said the suspects targeted companies, including Alcoa Inc., Allegheny Technologies Inc., United States Steel Corp., Toshiba Corp. unit Westinghouse Electric Co., the US subsidiaries of SolarWorld AG, and a steel workers' union.

All five defendants worked with Unit 61398 of the People's Liberation Army, which was hired by China's state-owned companies to provide database of corporate intelligence, according to the indictment. The Chinese companies were not named.