AKIPRESS.COM - The White House is considering applying sanctions against companies and individuals in China it believes have benefited from Chinese hacking of US trade secrets, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.

The newspaper, citing several unidentified Obama administration officials, said a final determination on whether to issue the sanctions was expected soon, possibly as early as the next two weeks.

Suspicions that Chinese hackers were behind a series of data breaches in the United States have been an irritant in relations between
the world's two largest economies as President Xi Jinping prepares to make his first visit to the United States next month.

Obama administration officials have said China is the top suspect in the massive hacking of a US government agency that compromised the personnel records of at least 4.2 million current and former government workers. China has denied involvement.