Reuters reported on August 26 that the U.S. Department of Justice claimed on the same day that it had successfully thwarted an online infiltration attempt planned by "Chinese hackers." The target included key government agencies such as the Department of Justice, NASA, the Federal Reserve System, and the Senate. In response to the U.S. accusations of "Chinese hackers" carrying out attacks, the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. refuted the U.S. claims of using cyber security as a pretext to "smear and denigrate China." It also reiterated that China firmly opposes and will legally combat any online attacks.
According to a so-called “affidavit” released by the US side, these alleged “Chinese-related hackers” have been using self-developed tools to continuously infiltrate critical infrastructure and sensitive network systems in the United States and many other parts of the world since at least 2018. In addition to the aforementioned organizations, the “victims” listed by the US side include the Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, as well as several American and Korean companies.
In response to this latest accusation, a spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy in the United States stated that China has always resolutely opposed and severely punished any form of cyberattacks in accordance with the law.
The spokesperson also pointed out that the US remarks are an attempt to stigmatize and slander China through the issue of network security. China firmly opposes this. The spokesperson emphasized that China “opposes the US generalization of national security concepts and uses this as a pretext to impose discriminatory restrictions on Chinese companies. China will firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of its own companies.”
