The report, by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, accused China of backsliding over free-trade reforms and of using spies to enable its companies to obtain technology without paying for research.
"Chinese espionage activities in the United States are so extensive that they comprise the single greatest risk to the security of American technologies," the report said.
It said scientists and engineers were enlisted to get hold of secrets "by whatever means possible - including theft".
China's growing industrial strength and its effects on manufacturing in the US are becoming an election issue, and the report could heighten fears that two of the world's biggest economies are heading for a trade war as well as an arms race.
The report supports growing complaints from the European Union accusing China of unfair trade practices.
The commission's chairman, Carolyn Bartholomew, said: "China's interest in moving toward a free market economy is not just stalling but is actually now reversing course."
While Europe's concern about China relates mainly to trade restrictions, voices in the Democrat and Republican parties in the US draw attention to both the economic and military threats they say China poses.
The report said there were national security implications to the transfer of technology to Chinese companies. "Sophisticated weapon platforms are coming off production lines at an impressive pace and with impressive quality," it said.
The release of the report follows the shooting down in a test of a satellite by a Chinese long-range missile in January, and this week's admission that the US was developing new space weapons.
There was no immediate comment from China but, before the report was published, it denied allegations of spying.
Telegraph, London
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