China has recently been accused of hacking satellites and stealing industrial technology, but the finger-pointing culminated yesterday with a US intelligence report naming China one of the most aggressive "collectors" of US technology. It's bigger than just smartphone knockoffs: the report mentions the theft of chemical formulas, electronics technology, and automotive plans all linked to China. Today, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei denied any involvement in industrial espionage — he noted that such attacks often cross national borders, calling accusations "irresponsible" without a comprehensive investigation. The US report admits the difficulty of tying cyber attacks to state sponsors, but says "Chinese actors are the world’s most active and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage." The US predicts China will continue to aggressively steal US technology as China-US business connections increase and mobile computing proliferates, while China hopes for international cooperation in maintaining online security. Cooperation is great, but industrial hacking seems unlikely to stop as long somebody's buying stolen technology.