{"slug": "us-hearing-warns-chinese-economic-espionage-now-targets-ai", "title": "US hearing warns Chinese economic espionage now targets AI", "summary": "A US congressional committee heard testimony that China has been stealing American technologies for decades and now targets artificial intelligence advances, with the Chinese military as the primary beneficiary. Witnesses warned that such espionage has strengthened Beijing's economic and military rise, while others cautioned against broad anti-China measures that could harm Asian-Americans and undermine US security.", "body_md": "# US hearing warns Chinese economic espionage now targets AI\n\nWitnesses say decades of technology theft have strengthened Beijing, while others caution against broad anti-China measures\n\n[Mark Magnier](/author/mark-magnier)in New York\n\nThe United States has been asleep for decades as China undercut US economic strength by stealing ideas, technologies and, more recently, artificial intelligence advances, with the Chinese military first in line to benefit, according to testimony heard by a congressional committee on Thursday.\n\n[last month’s summit](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3353778/xi-trump-summit-all-you-need-know-final-day-meeting-beijing?module=inline&pgtype=article)between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump meant to stabilise relations.\n\n“China has orchestrated a highly strategic, highly accelerated and multifaceted effort to steal commercial and technological secrets from the United States and other Western nations,” said David Shedd, former acting director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.\n\n“The campaign, which blends cyber espionage, human intelligence, academic collaboration, and commercial investments, has been instrumental in propelling China’s rapid economic and military rise.”\n\nSome witnesses and lawmakers pushed back, however, arguing that although Beijing’s aggressive campaigns to acquire foreign secrets must be checked, any broad-brush approach targeting students, property owners and researchers of Chinese descent as well as private Chinese companies ultimately undermines US security.\n\n“We should use a scalpel, not a sledgehammer,” said John Yang, president and executive director of civic group Asian Americans Advancing Justice. “Asian-Americans no longer feel safe because of their race or ethnicity.”", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/us-hearing-warns-chinese-economic-espionage-now-targets-ai", "canonical_source": "https://www.scmp.com/news/us/article/3358403/us-hearing-warns-chinese-economic-espionage-now-targets-ai?utm_source=rss_feed", "published_at": "2026-06-25 20:17:21+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-25 20:26:30.635492+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-policy", "ai-safety", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["David Shedd", "Defense Intelligence Agency", "John Yang", "Asian Americans Advancing Justice", "Xi Jinping", "Donald Trump"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/us-hearing-warns-chinese-economic-espionage-now-targets-ai", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/us-hearing-warns-chinese-economic-espionage-now-targets-ai.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/us-hearing-warns-chinese-economic-espionage-now-targets-ai.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/us-hearing-warns-chinese-economic-espionage-now-targets-ai.jsonld"}}