This is utter bullshit. This looks like a whitehouse leaked story that is speaking directly to the Chinese saying:<p>"we could sanction you, and you're economy is pretty shit right now so rein your people in and stop promoting IP theft. Also, with that $180B[0] reduction in your position in t-bonds a few weeks ago, the tables are turning back in our favor"<p>Look at this quote from the article:<p>>The sanctions would be a second major shot at China on the issue. In May 2014, the Obama administration secured indictments on economic spying charges against five Chinese military members for hacking into the computer systems of major U.S. steel and other firms.<p>> The indictments were a strong move, said Rob Knake, a former White House cyber official.<p>Well, five people isn't that many but it was a show of strength, a strong move if you will, and a definitive stance against the hackers. This all but proves the US is serious about standing up to China.<p>From the NYT article about that incident:<p>The move by the Justice Department was almost certainly symbolic since there is virtually no chance that the Chinese would turn over the five People’s Liberation Army members named in the indictment.[1]<p>Ahh, got it political posturing via the American media doing some public scolding and little else.<p>EDIT: This is probably the most infuriating part though, snuck in right at the end:<p>>The sanctions would not be imposed in retaliation for China’s hacks of the Office of Personnel Management databases, which compromised the personal and financial data of more than 22 million current and former government employees and family members. The data heists, which took place last year but were discovered this year, were judged as having been carried out for traditional intelligence purposes — not to benefit Chinese industry.<p>So, the message we seem to be sending is steal 7% of OUR ENTIRE COUNTRIES PERSONAL DATA, no biggie. Hurt a few companies steel and energy competitive advantage and we will threaten you, then ultimately back down. Why? Because publicly we want to reaffirm our commitment to valuing companies much higher than our own citizens.<p>[0]<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-09/china-slashes-u-s-debt-stake-by-180-billion-and-bonds-shrug" rel="nofollow">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-09/china-slas...</a><p>[1]<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/20/us/us-to-charge-chinese-workers-with-cyberspying.html?_r=0" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/20/us/us-to-charge-chinese-wo...</a>