Spies, Sanctions, Cyberattacks: China and the U.S. Clash Behind the Scenes

The word from the White House went out to senior U.S. officials months before President Trump landed in Beijing on Wednesday: Avoid unnecessary confrontations with China, large or small, that could interfere with Mr. Trump’s effort at rapprochement with America’s largest military, economic and technological competitor.

It did not work out that way.

Over the past few weeks, the Treasury Department has put new sanctions on Chinese firms it said provided targeting data to Iran that enabled strikes on bases across the Middle East that did billions of dollars in damage to American facilities. The White House has accused China of stealing artificial intelligence models from U.S. tech companies. And just this week, federal prosecutors said they had charged a California mayor with illegally working for Beijing.

There have been actions against midsize oil importers in China for secretly buying up Iranian oil. The only big step that the administration delayed was final approval of a $13 billion military aid package for Taiwan, which the White House designed but will not fulfill until Mr. Trump is back. That leaves President Xi Jinping time to voice his objections.

It is not clear why there has been such a sudden deluge of China measures, other than the fact that the Trump administration has been in office for nearly a year and a half. That is enough time for the China hawks appointed by Mr. Trump, and there are plenty, to gather evidence and build a case. Sometimes, that means forcing the president to see the evidence of Chinese-led actions designed to undermine the United States or its allies, even if his first instinct is to explain what a “good relationship” he has with Mr. Xi and seemingly suggest that all might be forgiven.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/us/politics/china-us-sanctions-ai-cybersecurity.html