China slams 'bandit' CIA after economic espionage remarks

China condemned on Friday remarks by the CIA's deputy director, Michael Ellis, who has implied that US intelligence agencies were spying on Beijing, heightening tensions ahead of a planned leaders' meeting.

Ellis told a cybersecurity conference on Tuesday that the United States was carrying out economic espionage operations to respond to the Chinese "threat".

"Our economy is intertwined with theirs," giving Beijing potential leverage over Washington, Ellis said, adding that the "CIA has to respond differently".

"We have to be able to collect foreign intelligence relevant to that economic security dimension of the competition, which means we need expertise about how to collect that information, how to analyse it."

Ellis said "intelligence targets" include strategic sectors such as semiconductors and biotech, where the rivalry between the world's two biggest economies is particularly intense.

The Chinese commerce ministry responded in a statement on Friday, saying Ellis's remarks were an example of "bandit logic".

"The US has bluntly declared that Chinese companies are legitimate targets of espionage, tearing away the fig leaf that once concealed intelligence agencies' covert theft, and laying bare... the bandit logic of hegemony," the ministry said.

China's technological advance in artificial intelligence or biotech "must never be treated as prey", it added, denouncing a "Cold War mentality".

The ministry further accused the United States of "deliberately undermining fair competition" and "openly trampling on the norms of international trade", threatening to take "necessary measures" to defend Chinese interests.

This comes less than two weeks before US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are expected to meet in the White House on September 24, according to Washington.

Artificial intelligence and trade are expected to feature on the agenda.