Beijing Condemns U.S. Sanctions on Five Chinese Firms Linked to Former Google Engineer

POLICY WIRE — Washington, USA — The Chinese government has voiced strong opposition to recent U.S. sanctions targeting five Chinese companies associated with a former Google engineer who was convicted of intellectual property theft.

Beijing’s commerce ministry issued a statement on Tuesday condemning the move, arguing that the penalties unfairly damage the rights of Chinese businesses. The ministry characterized the U.S. action as egregious and warned that China intends to implement necessary countermeasures, though it did not provide specific details on what those steps might entail.

The sanctions, announced by the U.S. State Department on Monday, focus on entities connected to Linwei Ding, the founder of Shanghai Zhisuan Technology. Authorities allege that Ding leveraged his background at Google to claim his startup could replicate the tech giant’s super intelligence infrastructure. Among the penalized entities is the startup incubator MiraclePlus, which provided seed capital to Zhisuan in exchange for an equity stake.

According to the State Department, Zhisuan knowingly benefited from the theft of trade secrets belonging to U.S. persons, with the illicit activity occurring on or after January 5, 2023. Ding was previously convicted by a federal jury in San Francisco in January 2026 on charges related to economic espionage and the theft of trade secrets, though a judge later dismissed the espionage counts and sentenced him to 12 months in prison. The Justice Department is currently pursuing an appeal regarding the dismissed charges.

In its defense, the Chinese commerce ministry asserted that the nation’s advancements in artificial intelligence are the result of long-term research, innovation, and open cooperation. The ministry maintained that these technological achievements have no connection to the theft of trade secrets.

Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)