Pompeo: Tech CEOs Downplaying China’s Tech Theft ‘Need to Get Out More’

During testimony in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reacted to the CEOs of Apple, Google, and Amazon downplaying technology theft by China by stating that “they need to get out more” and that there is a history of intellectual property theft by China that spans decades. Pompeo further expressed shock that anyone in the tech sector wouldn’t know about the Chinese Communist Party’s technology activities.

Pompeo said, “Well, they need to get out more. I mean, there is a long history, decades-long history, of Chinese intellectual property [theft], including against technologies, and I hear it. It’s sometimes the case you hear it privately. Because there’s continued threats made against their businesses that are operating, not only in China, but threats to businesses that are actually working in other parts of Asia and Southeast Asia as well.”

He added that “The Chinese Communist Party is completely willing to bully and to threaten” companies to influence their behavior.

Pompeo further stated that “the idea that anyone in the tech space could not know of what the Chinese Communist Party is attempting to steal and the cyberattacks they’re making seems incredulous to me.”

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