Chinese general calls US a 'Cyber thief'

BEIJING: A Chinese general has called the US the "world's No 1 cyber thief", saying America's cyber spying force should be indicted by other countries.

"In terms of both military and political intelligence and trade secrets, the United States is the world's No 1 cyber thief and its spying force should be indicted," said Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, during an international security seminar.

The US move is like "a thief crying 'stop thief'," which seriously violates the norms guiding international relations and undermines China-US relations, he was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

His comments followed US Justice Department's indictment against five Chinese military officers on allegations of commercial cyber theft.

"It is ridiculous for the US side to say that cyber espionage on political and military intelligence is common practise while the theft of commercial secrets is illegal," Sun said yesterday.

"As far as a country's security is concerned, isn't the political and military intelligence more important than commercial secrets?" he said.