US govt report says China stealing space technology

A report issued by the US State and Defense Departments said that China is pilfering US space technology in order to disrupt American access to intelligence, Bloomberg reported. “China’s continuing efforts to acquire US military and dual-use technologies are enabling China’s science and technology base to diminish the US technological edge in areas critical to the development of weapons and communications systems,” the report argued. Two unnamed intelligence officials said that China’s authoritarian government discourages innovation and independent thought, forcing the country to rely on copying technologies developed in the West. While China’s military is not ready to fight a land war, the officials said, it is seeking anti-access capabilities that would hamper US operations in the waters, airspace, and space near China, as well as online. Chinese officials have denied government involvement in cyber attacks against the US, calling such allegations “a Cold War ghost.”