BEIJING - A Chinese general on Tuesday called the United States the world's leading cyber thief, saying the US cyber spying force should be charged by other countries.

"In terms of both military and political intelligence and trade secrets, the United States is the world's No.1 cyber thief and its spying force should be indicted," Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, said on the sidelines of an international security seminar.

The US Justice Department last week announced an indictment against five Chinese military officers on allegations of commercial cyber theft. "It is ridiculous for the US side to say that cyber espionage on political and military intelligence is common practice while the theft of commercial secrets is illegal," Sun said.

"As far as a country's security is concerned, isn't the political and military intelligence more important than commercial secrets?" Sun said.

Sun said the US move is like "a thief crying 'stop thief'," which seriously violates the norms guiding international relations and undermines China-US relations.