Crime & Justice

China says global accusations of malicious cyber activity ‘groundless’

Beijing, Jul 20 (EFE).- China responded on Tuesday to countries and international bodies accusing China of “malicious cyber activities,” including March’s global Microsoft cyberattack, calling them “groundless.”

The White House said on Monday that China “has fostered an intelligence enterprise that includes contract hackers who also conduct unsanctioned cyber operations worldwide, including for their own personal profit.”

The United States’ condemnation was joined by the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada as well as the European Union and NATO.

“The allegations in the statements by the EU and NATO are not based on facts and evidence, but speculation and groundless accusations. We express our strong disapproval of and firm opposition to such statements,” the Chinese Mission to the EU said in a statement.

According to the embassy in Canberra, Australia is “following the steps and parroting the rhetoric of the US,” and it considers the country “an accomplice for the US’ eavesdropping activities under the framework of Five Eyes alliance.”

“What the Australian government has done is extremely hypocritical, like a thief crying ‘stop the thief!,'” stated the text.

The Chinese mission in New Zealand expressed similar sentiment, adding that the accusation was “totally groundless and irresponsible,” adding that it has filed a formal complaint with the authorities.

For its part, the Chinese embassy in Canada considered the accusations malicious defamation.

At the time of publishing, the websites of the Chinese embassies in the US, Japan and the UK had not released a response in this regard.

China also claimed in some of these communiqués that it is also a “major victim of cyber attacks” and advocated ending them.

The statements of the delegations also charged the accusing countries with “hypocrisy,” saying they themselves have participated in large-scale espionage activities.

The US on Monday also highlighted the cyberattack against Microsoft in March that affected up to 250,000 global computer systems, including the European Banking Authority, the Norwegian parliament and the Chilean Financial Market Commission.

This is the latest clash between Washington and Beijing, whose relations began to deteriorate in March 2018 when former US president Donald Trump began a trade war with the Asian power that later spread to other areas, such as technology and diplomacy. EFE

jt/tw

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