![]() In September 2015, standing outside the White House during Xi's state visit, former President Barack Obama said their two nations had "reached a common understanding" that would put an end to China's "cyber economic espionage for commercial gain." ![]() "Xi Jinping has pretty much got that under control. It had been more of a Wild West culture when the PLA was running hacking, because they would hack for personal gain," he said, referring to China's People's Liberation Army. "They're very adept at hacking, and they've improved remarkably in the last few years. It has pursued intellectual property theft with impunity, at times with help from human sources, for 20 years, costing American companies billions of dollars. The Chinese government's increasingly sophisticated cyber spying has enjoyed successes in part thanks to the U.S.'s poorly secured networks, Lewis told Newsweek. And in space, it controls an array of 260 spy satellites, second only to the U.S., a Pentagon report said last year. In the U.S., Beijing is suspected of strategically acquiring real estate for signals intelligence. However, China is growing its traditional surveillance capabilities, including its ships and aircraft that operate off sensitivity sites around the world. "It's been embarrassing for China, and it's made them look silly, so I don't see them expanding it greatly." In reality, the balloon would've been "more of an afterthought" for China's leaders, said James Lewis, a senior researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and director of its Strategic Technologies Program. government to tell the truth about them, a result that was perhaps difficult to divorce from partisan politics.Ī Newsweek graphic representing United States Capitol building and the flag of the People's Republic of China. Two-thirds of respondents expressed concern about other high-flying objects over North American airspace, while nearly half said they didn't trust the U.S. adults thought the balloon was a surveillance platform, but a third believed America was flying airships over China, too. The information could solve curiosities including the extent to which China relies on its dirigible program for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as how exactly Chinese leader Xi Jinping was convinced of the utility of a balloon with seemingly limited maneuverability.įor many Americans who saw the white orb traverse the country, it was an introduction to brazen Chinese spycraft, and the incident's outcome divided opinion, according to a Newsweek poll commissioned last month.Ī majority of U.S. In the meantime, the White House must juggle a red-faced adversary with an expectant public when it decides how much to reveal about the recent findings. Beijing's refusal to concede any wrongdoing was par for the course, subject-matter experts said. "What gives such an investigation credibility anyway?" he asked, in what was the extent of China's attempt to save face. officials, the Chinese spokesperson, who when asked for Beijing's evidence referred reporters to Washington instead, then complained that the Americans had refused to share details of the balloon debris, which was being examined "behind closed doors." ![]() In the middle of February, a week after an American fighter jet downed China's spy balloon off the Atlantic coast, a diplomat at its foreign ministry sought to turn the fiasco on its head by accusing the United States of launching airships over Chinese territory, too.Īfter flat denials by seniors U.S.
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