Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Sunday on Meet the Press that she was hacked by Chinese individuals right before her trip to China for discussions on how the two nations can cooperate.
Raimondo appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with Chuck Todd to speak about her trip and her outlook on U.S. competition with China. (RELATED: The US And China Are Ratcheting Up A Tug-Of-War For Influence Over Little-Known Islands In The Pacific)
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“But, you know, insult to injury was they hacked your email right before you went. It’s almost like — it almost feels like they were thumbing their nose at us. You can come and visit, but we’re doing our best to find out everything you already know anyway. I know you confronted them with this, I saw that report. But it does send a message of ‘we’re not that interested in engagement,'” Todd said.
“They did hack me, which was unappreciated to say the least, I brought it up, clearly, put it right on the table. By the way, I brought up many of our grievances on behalf of our national security concerns, concerns of U.S. labor, concerns of U.S. business, didn’t pull any punches,” Raimondo responded.
“Still, though, it’s a complicated relationship. There’s no doubt about it. We are in a fierce competition with China at every level, and anyone who tells you differently is naive,” she added.
Raimondo’s email servers were hacked in July as part of a larger cyber attack on roughly two dozen global organizations. She traveled to China in August for meetings with Chinese and American business leaders as part of “constructive discussions on issues relating to the U.S.-China commercial relationship,” according to a press release.
The Commerce Department oversees the U.S. government’s “entity list” of the foreign entities restricted from importing American technology without a proper license and it includes over 600 Chinese firms.
President Biden signed an executive order in August restricting investments in Chinese sectors aiding the development of its military. The order does not apply to existing investments and it creates exemptions that limit the scope of its restrictions.