The Five Eyes countries' intelligence chiefs came together on Tuesday to accuse China of intellectual property theft and using artificial intelligence for hacking and spying against the nations, in a rare joint statement by the allies.

Officials from the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — known as the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network — made the comments following meetings with private companies in the U.S. innovation hub Silicon Valley.

U.S. FBI Director Christopher Wray said the "unprecedented" joint call was meant to confront the "unprecedented threat" China poses to innovation across the world.