(Transcript from World News Radio)
The United States government has indicted five Chinese military officials in an international cyber-spying case.
The US alleges cyber-security breaches against six of America's biggest companies.
The Chinese government has rejected the allegations, warning the move threatens co-operation and trust between the two countries.
Zara Zaher has the details.
The United States accuses the five Chinese military officials of cyber spying on US companies in the nuclear power, metals and solar products industries.
Those charged are accused of stealing industry secrets, in an attempt to benefit Chinese state-owned companies.
US Attorney-General Eric Holder says the espionage led to job losses in America.
Mr Holder says US investigators are alleging the officials conspired with others to hack into the computers of the US companies.
He says it's the first time charges have been brought against foreign government officials for alleged cyber infiltration of US commercial targets.
"All nations are engaged in intelligence gathering. What I think distinguishes this case is that we have a state-sponsored entity, state-sponsored individuals using intelligence tools to gain commercial advantage. And that is what makes this case different."
Executive Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert Anderson, agrees this case is different from traditional espionage that many countries engage in.
Mr Anderson has told the BBC, commercial secrets were the main targets of the Chinese officials.
"We've clearly been able to capture both through technical means and through other investigations that we know exactly where these individuals perform their hacking if you will into US victims right down to the very residence or building they were in inside China. So we're very sure that these individuals did it on behalf of the government to supply inside information on trade secrets or proprietary corporate information and they did it on behalf of the government."
American officials have long been concerned about hacking from abroad, especially from China.
In 2011, it was reported that secret US State Department cables obtained by WikiLeaks traced major systems breaches to China.
Kelly Jackson Higgins is the Senior Editor at news website, Dark Reading.
She's told the BBC, this is the first time the US has publicly accused China of cyber spying.
"What's interesting about this case is that for so long Chinese cyber espionage has been the worst kind of secret in the US business since cyber security community. We knew this was happening. We knew it was going on. This particular group that is pinpointed here was also called out a year ago so we know a little bit about this group but we've not seen before their names or faces so this is significant. But the big news of course is that the US is taking legal action for the first time. Although none of us really thinks that these guys are going to be kicked over here to face our court system. It's a big precedent for the administration to actually file these criminal charges."
China has rejected the United States' allegations as 'absurd'.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman says the indictment is based on fabricated evidence, and jeopardises relations between the countries.
The Chinese government has asked the US to immediately withdraw the charges.
But White House spokesman Jay Carney says the US must act on the issue.
"The behaviour that has been identified by China has continued. It's not acceptable for government sponsored cyber-enabled theft of trade secrets and other sensitive business information for commercial gain is not something we can tolerate."
China says it will suspend the activities of a bilateral cyber working group.
