China on Tuesday urged the United States and Britain to stop politicizing cybersecurity, accusing China of hacking and putting unilateral sanctions on the country.
China on Tuesday asked the U.S. and Britain to cease politicizing the topic of cybersecurity, slandering and disparaging China for hacking, and imposing unilateral penalties on the country.
“It is pure political maneuvering for the United States and the United Kingdom to rehash the so-called cyberattacks carried out by China and sanction Chinese individuals and entities,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular press conference.
“China is strongly dissatisfied with this and firmly opposes it,” he went on to say.
On Monday, US and British officials filed charges, slapped sanctions, and accused Beijing of a massive hacking and cyberespionage campaign that reportedly targeted millions of people.
Authorities on both sides of the Atlantic dubbed the hacking group Advanced Persistent Threat Group 31, or “APT31,” and described it as an offshoot of China’s Ministry of State Security.
The Chinese Embassy in London described the claims as “completely fabricated and malicious slanders.”
“Previously, China provided technical clarifications and comments to the so-called APT31 information presented by the British side. It clearly demonstrates that the data presented by the British side is weak, and the related judgments lack professionalism,” Lin stated.
“Regrettably, however, the British side has not responded further since then,” he said.
Britain has also accused Chinese hackers of attempting to breach the email accounts of British legislators who were critical of China.
Lin stated that China has made sincere representations to all relevant parties “and will take necessary measures to safeguard China’s legitimate rights and interests.”
Several other countries have made hacking and cyberattack charges against China, which the government has denied.
On Tuesday, the New Zealand government stated that it has raised concerns with the Chinese government about its role in a state-sponsored cyber hack on New Zealand’s parliament in 2021.
Earlier this year, the United States announced the commencement of an operation to combat a widespread Chinese hacking campaign that had infected thousands of internet-connected devices.
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