The Department of Justice (DOJ) will support the Trump administration’s efforts to counter China’s unfair trade practices by establishing a unit focused exclusively on the…
The Department of Justice (DOJ) will support the Trump administration’s efforts to counter China’s unfair trade practices by establishing a unit focused exclusively on the prosecution of economic espionage by Chinese agents, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Thursday.
Sessions unveiled the program, dubbed the China Initiative, during a speech in Washington, declaring Beijing’s alleged theft of American trade secrets a “real and illegal threat to our nation’s economic prosperity and competitiveness.”
“This initiative will identify priority Chinese trade theft cases, ensure that we have enough resources dedicated to them, and make sure that we bring them to an appropriate conclusion quickly and effectively,” he said.
The initiative will fall under the purview of Assistant Attorney General John Demers, who heads up the DOJ’s National Security Division. Senior FBI officials and at least five U. S. attorneys will lead the investigations, which will focus on Chinese espionage against U. S. government agencies, universities and defense and technology firms, Sessions said. (RELATED: US Trade Deficit With China Hits Record)
Thursday’s announcement accompanied the unsealing of a federal grand jury indictment charging a Chinese state-owned company, a Taiwan company and three Taiwanese nationals with theft of trade secrets.
