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 The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said no final
decision had been made on imposing sanctions, which could strain
relations with Russia further and, if they came soon, cast a pall
over a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping in September.
The Washington Post first reported the Obama administration was
considering sanctioning Chinese targets, possibly within the next
few weeks, and said that individuals and firms from other nations
could also be targeted. It did not mention Russia.
A move against Chinese entities or individuals before Xi's trip, the
officials said, is possible but unlikely because of the strain it
could put on the top-level diplomatic visit, which will include a
black-tie state dinner at the White House hosted by President Barack
Obama.
 “The Chinese government staunchly upholds cyber security, firmly
opposes and combats all forms of cyber attacks in accordance with
law,” Chinese Embassy spokesman Zhu Haiquan said in a statement.
He said China wants enhanced dialogue and cooperation with the
United States and that “groundless speculation, hyping up or
accusation is not helpful to solve the problem.”
The Russian Embassy did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The U.S. government has suffered a series of embarrassing cyber
attacks in recent months, including one on the White House Office of
Personnel Management (OPM) that potentially provided a treasure
trove of data about government employees to foreign spies.
U.S. officials suspect that attack was linked to China, which has
denied any involvement in hacking U.S. databases and says it too has
been a victim of cyber attacks. The sanctions Washington is currently considering would not target
suspected hackers of government data, but rather foreign citizens
and firms believed responsible for cyber attacks on commercial
enterprises, one official said. If taken, the action would be the administration’s first use of an
executive order signed by Obama in April to crack down on foreign
hackers accused of penetrating U.S. computer systems.
 The officials declined to name any potential targets, concerned that
advance warning would allow them to hide assets.
One U.S. official said that sanctions imposed on individuals or
companies would effectively cut them off from using the U.S.
financial system, which could be a death-sentence for a serious
business venture.
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The official also said that entities or individuals from countries
other than Russia or China could face sanctions.
Another U.S. official suggested that a decision on targeting Chinese
entities could depend partly on whether diplomatic efforts, such as
last week's visit by White House national security adviser Susan
Rice to Beijing last week, produce positive results going forward.
Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel visits China next weekend
for further talks ahead of Xi's U.S. trip in the second half of
September.
STRAINED U.S.- RUSSIAN RELATIONS
U.S.-Russian relations have been deeply strained in recent years,
notably by Russia's March 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine as
well as its continued support for pro-Russian rebels fighting
government forces in eastern Ukraine.
Cyber security was a major issue between China and the United States
during the June Strategic and Economic Dialogue that gathers some of
the top financial and foreign policy officials in the two
governments.
"The United States, as we all know, has sharp disagreements with
China over its actions in cyber space," State Department spokesman
Mark Toner told reporters on Monday.
"We have remained deeply concerned about Chinese
government-sponsored cyber-enabled theft of confidential business
information and proprietary technology from U.S. companies," he
added at his daily briefing.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest declined to confirm the United
States was weighing sanctions against Chinese entities, though he
said U.S. cyber security concerns were "not a surprise" to Beijing.
"It would be strategically unwise for us to discuss potential
sanctions targets because that would only give the potential targets
of sanctions the opportunity to take steps that would allow them to
evade those sanctions,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One.
He said an executive order signed by Obama in April provided "an
additional tool in the toolbox to confront this particular
challenge."
(Aditional reporting by Julia Edwards and Yeganeh Torbati in
Washington.; Writing By Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Sue Horton)
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