>They are being charged with economic hacking activities. Trade secrets were being lifted and handed to Chinese companies. An analog would be like the NSA harvesting data from Samsung and then passing it to Apple
Yes, of course, the bright red line isn't international espionage, it's economic espionage! [1]
The US is bombarded with the ideology that politics and economics are separate subjects. When naturally, the point of that distinction is to severely mislead. (Capitalism itself couldn't exist without a huge infrastructure of laws and violence which supports it, like violence towards people who violate abstract social rights to "property".)
Yes, of course, the bright red line isn't international espionage, it's economic espionage! [1]
[1]http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/09/nsa-spying-braz...