NATION & WORLD U.S. PREPARES TO TARGET HACKERS

Trump administration plans to condemn China over economic espionage.

WASHINGTON» The Trump administration is preparing actions this week to call out Beijing for what it says are China’s continued efforts to steal American trade secrets and advanced technologies and to compromise sensitive government and corporate computers, according to U.S. officials.

Multiple government agencies are expected to condemn China, citing a documented campaign of economic espionage and the alleged violation of a landmark 2015 pact to refrain from hacking for commercial gain.

In perhaps the most significant move, the Justice Department is expected to announce the indictments of multiple hackers suspected of working for a Chinese intelligence service and participating in a longrunning espionage campaign that targeted U.S. networks.

Along with that, the administration is planning to declassify intelligence relating to the breaches, which date to 2014, and to impose sanctions on some of those believed responsible, according to people familiar with the plans.

Other actions are expected, but officials declined to discuss them.

Taken together, the announcements represent a major broadside against China over its mounting aggression against the West and its attempts to displace the United States as the world’s leader in technology, officials said. They are part of an intensifying government-wide approach to confronting China and would come as the two countries have reached a momentary detente in their trade war.

The actions come amid mounting intelligence showing a sustained Chinese hacking effort devoted to acquiring sophisticated American technologies of all stripes. A number of agencies — including the Justice, State, Treasury and Homeland Security departments — have pushed for a newly aggressive U.S. response. A National Security Council committee coordinated the actions.

“What’s driving this is not some specific action on the part of the Chinese or a desire to pressure them in the trade talks. It’s the accumulation of intelligence,” said Michael Pillsbury, a China analyst at the Hudson Institute. “It’s really gotten out of hand.”

The White House and the Justice Department declined to comment. Officials at the Treasury Department and the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.