Near the shore of the East China Sea, where giant cranes and piles of shipping containers mark the skyline of one of the world’s busiest ports, stands the 12-storey building at the centre of a cyber-espionage showdown between the US and China.
There are no outward signs betraying what the US Department of Justice asserts is the Shanghai building’s purpose: housing Unit 61398, a cyber-hacking group attached to the People’s Liberation Army.
A lone uniformed soldier stood guard at the building’s entrance in the days after the DoJ announced criminal charges against five Chinese military officers working at the unit, alleging they had stolen trade secrets and technological knowhow from US companies and unions.