The US State Department has imposed sanctions on five Chinese entities it accuses of taking confidential business information from US firms, the South China Morning Post reports.
The measures, announced on Monday, use the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act. Those named include Shanghai Zhisuan Technology, which was set up by Ding Linwei, a former software engineer at Google, along with the investment firm MiraclePlus and three entities connected to them.
Ding was convicted in January on seven counts of stealing trade secrets. A federal judge later cleared him of seven further counts of economic espionage, ruling that there was not enough evidence that he had known or intended his actions to benefit the Chinese government at the time. His theft convictions still stand.
Source: South China Morning Post
