The Harbin Public Security Bureau in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on Tuesday issued a wanted notice for three agents of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), accusing them of launching cyberattacks on the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin and key information systems in China.
According to a report released on April 3 by the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC), the Games' information systems were hit 270,000 times, while 50 million attacks were launched against critical infrastructure across Heilongjiang Province -- all traced back to foreign sources, or more specifically, from the U.S. and its allies.
Chinese investigators said forensic analysis identified the culprits as the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA)'s agents Katheryn A. Wilson, Robert J. Snelling, and Stephen W. Johnson. who have a history of targeting China's critical infrastructure and companies like Huawei with cyberattacks.
Zhou Hongyi, founder of Chinese cyber security company 360 Group, has described the successful identification of individual foreign agents as a historic milestone.
"Over the past few years, we repeatedly uncovered attacks by the U.S. on Northwestern Polytechnical University and a range of our country's key research and military-industrial infrastructure. It took us nearly ten years to build a comprehensive knowledge base of their attack methods and tactics. Tracing this incident back to three individual agents is a major breakthrough in history," Zhou said.
The Harbin police, in coordination with CVERC and the Games' cybersecurity task force, launched a full-scale investigation immediately after the attacks were discovered.
"The cyberattacks targeting the 9th Asian Winter Games were highly precise. If any of these critical operational systems were compromised -- whether through data theft or destruction -- it would have had a significant impact on the entire event. Based on the IP addresses, we can see that most of the attacks originated from organizations in the U.S. and its allies, which represents the highest level of cyberattack capability globally," said Wu Yunkun, president of Qi An Xin Group, another cyber security company.
Analysts also found out that the attacks involved artificial intelligence (AI) technology to automate and optimize intrusion tactics.
"This time, the U.S. NSA acted unusually, launching a massive-scale attack. Based on our analysis of the attack codes, they used AI agent technology - employing AI to plan attack strategies, search for vulnerabilities, and monitor network traffic. Some of the codes were clearly written by AI, meaning they achieved the ability to automatically and rapidly generate dynamic attack codes during the operation of attacks," Zhou said.
Chinese police issue wanted notice for U.S. NSA agents over cyberattacks
China's stock market demonstrated robust performance in 2025 with new records in various sectors.
Against the backdrop of global liquidity easing and evolving industrial policies, the A-share market experienced a landmark year. Multiple key metrics - including total market capitalization, trading volume, as well as margin trading and short selling balances - achieved historic breakthroughs, demonstrating remarkable vitality and resilience.
In terms of overall performance, as of Dec. 31, 2025, the total market capitalization of A-shares reached approximately 118.91 trillion yuan, marking a net increase of 25.30 trillion yuan from the year's opening level of 93.61 trillion yuan. This represents a growth rate of 27.03 percent, according to data from financial information provider Wind.
In 2025, major A-share indices extended their annual gains compared to 2024.
On Dec. 31, 2025, the Shanghai Composite Index stood at 3,968.84 points, marking an annual increase of 18.41 percent - the largest annual gain since 2020. The Shenzhen Component Index rose 29.87 percent for the year, while the ChiNext Index surged 49.57 percent. The Beijing Stock Exchange 50 Index recorded an annual gain of 38.80 percent, while the STAR Market 50 Index rose 35.92 percent for the year.
As major indices rose, market trading activity intensified. Throughout 2025, the A-share market recorded a total trading value of approximately 420 trillion yuan, marking a growth of over 60 percent compared to the previous year and nearly doubling the 2023 annual value. It also marked the first time in history that the annual trading value surpassed the 400 trillion yuan threshold.
The margin trading and short selling scale in the A-share market expanded rapidly in 2025. As of the year end, the outstanding margin trading and short selling balance in the A-share market increased by 690.7 billion yuan during the year to reach 2.5 trillion yuan, setting a new historical high.
Notably, the growth in the balance was primarily driven by the increase in the financing balance. Although the short selling balance also increased in 2025, its cumulative growth for the year was less than 10 billion yuan, with the absolute value of the short selling balance remaining at a low level in recent years.
As market sentiment continued to heat up, major sectors in the A-share market saw increases. Key industry sectors rose to varying degrees, with over half posting annual increases exceeding 30 percent.
Boosted by sharp rises in precious metal prices, the nonferrous metals sector delivered standout performance throughout 2025. Defense and military, telecommunications, machinery and equipment, automotive, power equipment, and electronics sectors also ranked among the top annual gainers. Sectors like food and beverages, coal, and banking showed relatively weaker annual performance but still managed modest gains.
Against the backdrop of a broad market rally, individual stocks also rose, with many delivering standout performances. Data indicates that over 4,200 A-shares saw price increases in 2025, accounting for more than three-quarters of the total. Specifically, after excluding newly listed stocks, over 500 A-shares still doubled in value, with more than 100 stocks achieving annual gains exceeding 200 percent.
China's stock market demonstrates strong performance with multiple new records in 2025
