China expresses ‘firm opposition’ to Trump administration sanctions tied to former Google engineer

China slammed the Trump administration’s move to sanction five Chinese companies linked to a former Google engineer accused of intellectual property theft, calling it “egregious.”

The State Department announced the sanctions on Monday, stating the firms are connected to Chinese national Linwei Ding, who was convicted earlier this year of stealing AI-related trade secrets from Google.

The imposition of these sanctions “severely harms the legitimate rights and interests” of Chinese businesses, the country’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement, which was shared by The Associated Press. “The nature of this act is egregious. China firms opposes this.”

The ministry pressed the U.S. to “correct its erroneous practice,” adding Beijing would “take necessary measures,” the news wire added.

Among the sanctioned entities were Shanghai Zhisuan Technology Co., a software........

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