A new U.S. effort to counter China’s cyber theft may affect Israel

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A new u.s policy that is aimed at countering Chinese cyber attacks on the u.s , will further diminish the chances of any plan to make Chinese companies potential clients for Israeli civil technology. The defense ties between China and Israel have been terminated after the u.s killed the sale of aerial early warning ( AEW) aircraft , built by Israel aerospace industries (IAI) to China in the mid 90’s. But in recent years , efforts were made to allow the sale of Israeli civilian technologies to China.

The Obama administration last week unveiled the details of a broad strategy to counter the systemic theft by Chinese government agencies of U.S. trade and technology and trade secrets. The administration’s plan calls for new diplomatic push to discourage intellectual property theft abroad and better coordination at home to help U.S. companies protect themselves.

“We will continue to act vigorously to combat the theft of U.S. trade secrets that could be used by foreign companies or foreign governments to gain an unfair economic edge,” said the strategy document.

“Trade secret theft threatens American businesses, undermines national security, and places the security of the U.S. economy in jeopardy”. Such actions, the document said, “put American jobs at risk.”

Earlier a report by cyber experts offered incontrovertible evidence to support what everybody already knew: China has been using its vast network if intelligence services in a relentless, systemic campaign of stealing U.S. trade secrets and providing them to Chinese companies.

The goals of China’s government cybertheft campaign: help Chinese companies compete in world’s markets; strengthen China’s economy by employing advanced Western technology without paying for that technology;  weaken, even destroy, Western technology companies; and, more generally, undermine the technology sectors of Western economies.

The Obama administration has decided that the time for U.S. pushback has come. Fox News reports that the administration’s plan calls for new diplomatic push to discourage intellectual property theft abroad and better coordination at home to help U.S. companies protect themselves. The administration says the evidence shows that economic espionage is increasing, not only by means of electronic intrusion over the Internet, but also through the recruitment of former employees of U.S. companies with knowledge of inside trade information.

“Trade secret theft threatens American businesses, undermines national security and places the security of the U.S. economy in jeopardy,” said a report from the White House. “These acts also diminish U.S. export prospects around the globe and put American jobs at risk.”

The new report did not offer details if what would be the consequences for trade secret theft. Instead, it outlined five broad categories of actions to protect American innovation:

Applying diplomatic pressure by senior officials to foreign leaders to discourage theft.

Promoting best practices to help industries protect against theft.

Enhancing U.S. law enforcement operations to increase investigations and prosecutions.

Reviewing U.S. laws to determine if they need to be strengthened to protect against theft.

Beginning a public awareness campaign.