FBI director: Chinese IP theft is US’ ‘greatest threat’
The director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has said that Chinese IP theft represents the “greatest long-term threat” to the country’s economy.
In a speech made earlier this week at an event hosted by conservative think tank the Hudson Institute, Christopher Wray reiterated the Trump administration’s claim that Beijing is systematically backing the theft of US IP.
“Through its talent recruitment programmes, like the so-called Thousand Talents Program, the Chinese government tries to entice scientists to secretly bring our knowledge and innovation back to China—even if that means stealing proprietary information or violating our export controls and conflict-of-interest rules,” the FBI director said.
According to Wray, the threat from Chinese economic espionage and IP theft to the US economy “almost defies calculation”.
The Chinese government is backing similar schemes targeting IP in US academic institutions and universities, Wray claimed.
He added: “China then leverages its ill-gotten gains to undercut US research institutions and companies, blunting our nation’s advancement and costing American jobs. And we are seeing more and more of these cases.”
In particular, Wray called out China’s leading telecoms firm and smartphone maker, Huawei, which he described as a “serial IP thief”.
Huawei has been the primary focus of the US’ claims regarding Chinese theft of European and US IP. The Chinese company has consistently denied the claims, and accused the FBI of “harassing” its US employees.
Concerns over Huawei’s leading role in 5G technology has prompted a fierce debate over whether the company should be allowed to build Western countries’ telecoms infrastructure.
Yet Huawei is the leading 5G patent owner in the world and is likely to exert a strong influence over the development and rollout of the technology.
The company is facing criminal charges, including IP theft, from the US Department of Justice, and has also been “ blacklisted” by the US government.
The blacklisting has placed significant restrictions on US firms’ ability to do business with Huawei, depriving the Chinese company’s newest smartphones of Google services, including apps.
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