--- title: US Charges Chinea Government Officials With Cyber Crimes description: Attorney General Eric Holder will unveil the charges Monday, the first-ever cyber crime charges against state actors canonical: https://time.com/104508/u-s-charges-chinese-government-officials-with-cyber-espionage/ author: Massimo Calabresi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-19T13:05:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:55:00.022Z article:section: Politics og:title: US Charges Multiple Chinese Government Officials With Economic Espionage og:description: First-ever cybercrime charges against State actors to be detailed Monday in alleged attacks against major U.S. companies og:url: https://time.com/104508/u-s-charges-chinese-government-officials-with-cyber-espionage/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt180624625fde585b/69869014cd804d4e54ccaf08/eric-holder.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3816 og:image:height: 2147 og:image:alt: Attorney General Eric Holder listens during a news conference to announce indictments against Chinese military hackers on cyber-espionage May 19, 2014 at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: US Charges Multiple Chinese Government Officials With Economic Espionage twitter:description: First-ever cybercrime charges against State actors to be detailed Monday in alleged attacks against major U.S. companies twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt180624625fde585b/69869014cd804d4e54ccaf08/eric-holder.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # U.S. Charges Chinese Government Officials With Cyber Espionage > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=2ab2c1d7-4e0a-40f8-932d-b3fdd8ccfbdc&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Holder: US Will Remain Vigilant to Cyber Threats from China [Watch (HLS stream): Holder: US Will Remain Vigilant to Cyber Threats from China](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tUAKwd6j.m3u8) (0:24)  _Published 2014-05-19. Holder: US Will Remain Vigilant to Cyber Threats from China_  by [Massimo Calabresi](https://time.com/author/massimo-calabresi/)  ## Massimo Calabresi Calabresi is TIME’s Washington bureau chief. May 19, 2014 1:05 PM UTC  Attorney General Eric Holder listens during a news conference to announce indictments against Chinese military hackers on cyber-espionage May 19, 2014 at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC. Attorney General Eric Holder listens during a news conference to announce indictments against Chinese military hackers on cyber-espionage May 19, 2014 at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC. Alex Wong—Getty Images  by [Massimo Calabresi](https://time.com/author/massimo-calabresi/)  ## Massimo Calabresi Calabresi is TIME’s Washington bureau chief. May 19, 2014 1:05 PM UTC _Updated 11:47 a.m. E.T._ The United States charged five Chinese government officials with allegedly orchestrating cyber attacks against six major American companies, officials said Monday. It marks the first time the U.S. has formally charged foreign government officials for explicitly acting at the behest of a foreign government in cyber crimes “The range of trade secrets and other sensitive business information stolen in this case is significant and demands and aggressive response,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in announcing the charges, which were brought by a federal grand jury in Pennsylvania. Holder said the companies targeted were Alcoa World Alumina, Westinghouse Electric Co., Allegheny Technologies, U.S. Steel Corp., United Steelworkers Union, and SolarWorld. “In some cases, they stole trade secrets that would have been particularly beneficial to Chinese companies at the time they were stolen,” Holder said. “In others, they stole sensitive, internal communications that would provide a competitor, or adversary in litigation, with insight into the strategy and vulnerabilities of the American entity. In sum, the alleged hacking appears to have been conducted for no reason other than to advantage state-owned companies and other interests in China, at the expense of businesses here in the United States.” Economic espionage out of China has been broad and sustained for over a decade, targeting everything from retail enterprises to defense contractors. Both private actors and state entities, like the People’s Liberation Army, have reportedly been behind the attacks. Taken together, cybercrime originating in China has been described by Western experts as the largest theft in human history. “This is a tactic that the U.S. government categorically denounces,” Holder said. “As President Obama has said on numerous occasions, we do not collect intelligence to provide a competitive advantage to U.S. companies, or U.S. commercial sectors.” China’s foreign ministry issued a statement in response calling the allegations “made up,” the BBC [reports](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-27475324#TWEET1133088). The decision to charge military officers would “damage Sino-American cooperation and mutual trust,” spokesman Qin Gang said. “China is a staunch defender of network security, and the Chinese government, military and associated personnel have never engaged in online theft of trade secrets,” he said. The charges against the Chinese government officials come as the Justice Department prepares to announce details of an ongoing global crackdown in a separate case against private hackers using the “[Blackshades](http://time.com/103563/fbi-global-raids-underway-against-global-blackshades-cybercrime-hackers/)” computer program for malware attacks in more than a dozen countries in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Dozens of suspects have been arrested in busts coordinated by the FBI with law enforcement agencies around the world. The Justice Department continues to seek suspects in the case in the United States. ## Transcript Well, it's our hope that the, the Chinese government will respect our criminal justice system and lest the, the case proceed, as it should, let justice take its course. We expect, we hope that the Chinese government will work with us in connection, with this and bring these indicted men to justice. But we're also continuing to remain vigilant when it comes to cyber threats that emanate from China or other countries. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/104508/u-s-charges-chinese-government-officials-with-cyber-espionage/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/104508/u-s-charges-chinese-government-officials-with-cyber-espionage/"},"headline":"U.S. Charges Chinese Government Officials With Cyber Espionage","datePublished":"2014-05-19T13:05:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:55:00.022Z","description":"Attorney General Eric Holder unveiled economic espionage charges against Chinese military officials for targeting American companies","url":"https://time.com/104508/u-s-charges-chinese-government-officials-with-cyber-espionage/","keywords":["justice","China","FBI","Eric Holder","Cybercrime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt180624625fde585b/69869014cd804d4e54ccaf08/eric-holder.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Massimo Calabresi","jobTitle":"Calabresi is TIME’s Washington bureau chief.","url":"https://time.com/author/massimo-calabresi/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt180624625fde585b/69869014cd804d4e54ccaf08/eric-holder.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Attorney General Eric Holder listens during a news conference to announce indictments against Chinese military hackers on cyber-espionage May 19, 2014 at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.","caption":"Attorney General Eric Holder listens during a news conference to announce indictments against Chinese military hackers on cyber-espionage May 19, 2014 at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/justice/","name":"justice"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/104508/u-s-charges-chinese-government-officials-with-cyber-espionage/","name":"U.S. Charges Chinese Government Officials With Cyber Espionage"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Holder: US Will Remain Vigilant to Cyber Threats from China","description":"Holder: US Will Remain Vigilant to Cyber Threats from China","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/tUAKwd6j/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-05-19T16:09:05.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tUAKwd6j.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/104508/u-s-charges-chinese-government-officials-with-cyber-espionage/","duration":"PT24S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/104508/u-s-charges-chinese-government-officials-with-cyber-espionage/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```