China condemns the statements of the Deputy Director of the CIA about economic espionage, describing them as “the logic of banditry.”

On Friday, China denounced the “logic of banditry” of the Deputy Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Michael Ellis, after he suggested that the agency was spying on it, ahead of an expected summit between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump this month.

Ellis hinted during a cybersecurity conference on Tuesday that Washington was carrying out extensive economic espionage operations in the face of the “threat” posed by Beijing. He believed that the “economic interdependence” between the two countries may give Beijing pressure cards on Washington, which should prompt the agency to “deal differently.”

The Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Friday: “By explicitly declaring that Chinese companies constitute legitimate targets for espionage, the United States publicly exposed the theft of secrets that its intelligence services were secretly practicing, thereby demonstrating the logic of banditry and domination.”

She stressed, according to Agence France-Presse, that “Chinese technological progress” in the fields of artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and others “should in no way be a target for espionage,” denouncing the “Cold War mentality.”

Ellis stressed the importance of “continuing to address traditional political and military issues, but we must also be able to collect intelligence information related to the economic and security aspects of this competition.” This requires knowing how to obtain and analyze this information.”

He referred to the fields of semiconductors and biotechnology as “intelligence targets.”

Trump announced that he would host his Chinese counterpart at the White House on September 24. It is expected that artificial intelligence will be one of the most prominent topics on the agenda of their talks.

On Friday, the Philippine Coast Guard recovered 30 bodies from the ferry MV John Aster, which had been engulfed in flames after a fire broke out on board and spread within a few seconds.

Earlier today, the Coast Guard reported that bodies were found in the economy class section of the ferry that ran aground near the tourist island of Coron in Palawan province after the fire swept it on Wednesday evening.

Coast Guard spokeswoman Nomi Cayabyab told Agence France-Presse: “We have 30 bodies,” noting that there are more bodies.

Pictures published by the Coast Guard showed bodies placed in bags being transported by men in protective suits to a small ship. Thus, the death toll has risen to 35 people.

30 passengers and 13 crew members received first aid, while 54 people are still missing.

Cayabyab had previously indicated that the fire that started in the cargo hold engulfed the ship within seconds.

She explained, based on survivors' testimonies, that some of those who were able to leave the ship did not have enough time to put on life jackets.

On Friday, police investigators, explosives experts, and army personnel headed on two rubber boats to the site of the ship that ran aground on a small island off Coron.

The passenger list showed that the ferry was carrying 134 passengers and crew members, in addition to cargo, goods, an electric vehicle, a small truck, and a number of motorcycles.

The Philippines, which includes more than seven thousand islands and a population of about 116 million people, witnesses frequent accidents on ferries that connect the islands. Many people rely on cheap ferries to move between the different islands.

Last January, a three-story ferry carrying more than 340 people sank, killing at least 52 people.

The ferry “MV Trisha Kersten 3” also sank on a sea route near the site, which in 2023 witnessed the death of 31 people following a fire on board the ferry “Lady Mary Joy 3”.