US claims Chinese spies stole data from laptop

New York: The US accused China on Friday of spying on the laptop computer used by President George W. Bush's trade secretary during a visit to Beijing.

The claim is the most specific yet by the Bush administration about an alleged campaign of cyber-espionage by Chinese hackers.

Chinese agents are said to have copied the contents of the laptop used by Carlos Gutierrez when it was left unattended during trade talks in December.

They are then accused of trying to use the information they discovered to hack into US government computers.

Gutierrez refused to discuss how the laptop was left out of the sight of US officials, or whether he had proof that its security had been breached. But he confirmed that an investigation has been launched.

"To the extent that there is an investigation going on, those are the things being looked at," Gutierrez said on Friday. "I don't think I should provide any speculative answers."

Other US government agencies refused to discuss the incident. US silence on the issue reflects the sensitivity of relations with China, which are complicated by trade disagreements between the countries and the imminence of the Beijing Olympics.

It was not immediately clear how classified the laptop data might have been, but it appeared to have been good enough to prompt a subsequent hacking attempt. A computer's hard drive can be copied in minutes using technology that steals data remotely. There has been growing concern in America about the extent of Chinese economic and industrial espionage, particularly involving computers.

Chinese working in the US have been expelled for suspected industrial spying with increasing frequency.

In the past two years, the Pentagon, State Department and Commerce Department have all been affected by computer intrusions blamed on China.

The Chinese would be interested in information possessed by Gutierrez's delegation because of its usefulness in world trade talks. Officials said they were always careful to keep electronic devices with them at all times during trips to China.

There is an investigation going on, those are the things being looked at. I don't think I should provide any speculative answers."