China rejects US hacking report ahead of Trump-Xi meeting

China on Thursday rejected a US government report that accuses Beijing of stepping up efforts to steal technology ahead of a meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

The Commerce Ministry dismissed the US Trade Representative's report as "new unwarranted accusations" and said Washington was wrecking economic relations.

The two sides have raised tariffs on billions of dollars of each other's goods in a fight over US complaints that Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology in violation of its market-opening obligations.

The USTR report said Chinese computer hacking attacks aimed at stealing American technology have increased this year while Beijing made no basic changes to policies its trading partners consider improper.

"This is completely unacceptable to China," said a Commerce Ministry spokesman, Gao Feng.

"We hope the US side will stop the words and deeds of destroying bilateral economic and trade relations."
Gao called on Washington to "create favourable conditions" to get economic relations "back on the right track."