By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

U.S. authorities warned Wednesday that Chinese hackers were attempting to steal coronavirus data on treatments and vaccines, adding fuel to Washington's war with Beijing over the pandemic, according to the Agence France-Presse report.

According to AFP report, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said organizations researching COVID-19 were at risk of "targeting and network compromise" by China.

They warned that Chinese government-affiliated groups and others were attempting to obtain "valuable intellectual property and public health data related to vaccines, treatments, and testing. China's efforts to target these sectors pose a significant threat to our nation's response to COVID-19," they said.

The two organizations gave no examples to support the allegation.

But the warning added to the battle between the superpowers over the outbreak that began in China and has killed at least 293,000 worldwide, and more than 83,000 in the United States.

President Donald Trump has accused China of hiding the origins of the virus and not cooperating in efforts to research and fight the disease.

Asked on Monday about reports that the U.S. believed Chinese hackers were targeting U.S. vaccine research, Trump replied: "What else is new with China?... I'm not happy."

The warning Wednesday also underscored that Washington believes China has continued broad efforts to obtain U.S. commercial and technology secrets under President Xi Jinping's drive to make his country a technological leader.

In February, the U.S. Justice Department indicted four Chinese army personnel suspected of hacking the database of credit rating agency Equifax, giving them the personal data of 145 million Americans.

On Monday, the Department of Justice announced the arrest of University of Arkansas engineering professor Simon Saw-Teong Ang for hiding ties to the Chinese government and Chinese universities while he worked on projects funded by NASA.

The indictment said Ang was secretly part of the Xi-backed Thousand Talents program, which Washington says China uses to collect research from abroad.

Also on Monday, Li Xiaojiang, a former professor at Emory University in Atlanta, admitted tax fraud in a case focused on his hidden earnings from China, also as a participant in the Thousand Talents program.

Senator Marco Rubio, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said such cases combined with the coronavirus are forcing China to change its tactics.

"Beijing has shifted its recruitment efforts for the Thousand Talents Program online, and it has increased efforts to hack U.S. medical research institutes for COVID-19 information," he said.

Beijing has repeatedly denied the U.S. accusations.

More updated information on the U.S. accusations can be reached at AFP site.



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