'It's a nasty world' - Trump hints US is hacking China

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday hinted that the United States is hacking China when asked about how to deal with the alleged hacking activities from China.

Trump was responding to a question about how he viewed Chinese intellectual property theft, hacking of the US telecoms system and controversy around the Covid-19 pandemic on the "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo" show.

"You don't think we do that to them?" the president said in the interview. "We do, we do a lot of things."

Trump also dismissed the importance of aggressive actions linked to Beijing including recent arrests of two Chinese nationals accused of smuggling a dangerous pathogen into the United States.

Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, are charged with conspiracy, smuggling, false statements, and visa fraud.

The US Justice Department said the pair conspired to smuggle into the United States a fungus called Fusarium graminearum that causes "head blight," a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice.

Trump downplayed this saying, "you don't know where that came from, though. I mean, did that come from the country, or is that three wackos that happened to carry something?"

Referring to the ongoing US-China trade war, Trump appeared to signal he was satisfied, saying "We're getting along well with China."

He added: "I think getting along with China is a very good thing, but they are paying substantial tariffs."

This past week the White House signaled trade progress with China, with an official saying both sides have reached an understanding on issues including expediting rare earth shipments to the United States.

After talks in Geneva in May, Washington and Beijing agreed to temporarily lower steep tit-for-tat tariffs on each other's products.

Separately, it was reported that China plans to invite Trump to a military parade scheduled for September 3 in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The United States, meanwhile, has proposed that Chinese President Xi Jinping visit the country during the same month, coinciding with a U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York, the sources added.

(Staff reporter, AFP and Kyodo News)
(Updated at 1.55 pm)