WASHINGTON, DC, May 20 (RAPSI) - For the first time, US officials intend to prosecute five Chinese military officers on charges of stealing commercial secrets from US firms, US Attorney General Eric Holder announced.

Holder said Washington expects the defendants – five officers of the People's Liberation Army allegedly involved in stealing intellectual property from six American companies – to be tried in a US court. The cyber spying victims include Westinghouse Electric, producer of fuel for nuclear power stations, metal suppliers Alcoa, Allegheny Technologies Incorporated, U.S. Steel, the United Steelworkers Union, and solar panel producer SolarWorld.

In February 2013, Mandiant, an American company specializing in cyber security, published a report that claimed that the companies had been attacked by hackers from Military Unit 61398 of the People's Liberation Army in China.

The US government earlier reported it would consider imposing trade sanctions on China if there is proof that the cyber-attacks on US companies were authorized by Beijing. China repeatedly denied its involvement in any malpractice in cyberspace and claimed it was the US interfering with the Chinese internet.

Last March, the media revealed documents provided by former CIA contractor Edward Snowden, according to which the NSA hacked into the computer networks of Huawei Technologies Co., an international supplier of communications equipment. Also, the NSA allegedly targeted the Chinese ministries of trade and foreign affairs as well as some Chinese politicians, including former president Hu Jintao.