China is stealing intellectual property to boost its economic development

[Commentary] The world has recently been rattled by two unexpected exposures. First, Mandiant, the cyber security specialist, managed to identify – down to the physical address – a Chinese army unit responsible for the theft of foreign intellectual property. Second, via Edward Snowden, the Booz Allen Hamilton contractor turned leaker, a lens has been turned on to the extent of the National Security Agency’s practices of spying and privacy invasion.

China is doing its best to conflate IP theft with the NSA’s listening. But aside from the use of internet tools to further their ends, these programs and issues are otherwise unrelated. One represents the international theft of inventions as part of a national business model; the other is intended to promote national security. There is no evidence yet of any kind that the nations implicated by Mr Snowden in snooping have used their systems to undermine the economies of other nations or to gain a competitive commercial advantage. The US and its allies have generally employed spies because they are charged with protecting and defending their countries against aggressors. Their success, in broad terms, is measured by a reduction in successful attacks. Certainly, they can and do escape accountability and become overzealous. But countries steal IP for baser, less defensible reasons: to make money and to gain an international economic advantage against their competitors.

[Anderson is chief executive of Strategic News Service]