China strongly deplores and firmly opposes U.S. bringing certain countries along to smear and vilify China under the pretext of cybersecurity, said Guo Jiakun, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at a regular briefing in Beijing on Friday.
Guo said China always opposes and fights hacking activities in accordance with the law. At the meantime, it firmly opposes spreading disinformation out of political agenda.
"As is known by all, the 'PRISM' program disclosed by Edward Snowden has shown that the U.S. has been proven to be the world's largest 'hacking empire' and 'eavesdropping empire.' Even the countries, the U.S.'s so-called allies, that participated in the farce this time, were once victims of its eavesdropping and surveillance. Yet now the U.S. is attempting to falsely accuse China of 'cyber espionage.' This is typical hypocrisy of claiming itself to be the victim while it's the other way around," Guo said.
"According to reports of Chinese cybersecurity institution, the so-called 'Volt Typhoon' once hyped up by the U.S. was actually a transnational ransomware group. It was a joint move of vilification and framing against China by U.S. intelligence agencies and cybersecurity companies in order to receive more congressional budgets. Let me point out that according to U.S. media outlets, this incident so happens because the 'backdoor,' originally opened by the U.S. intelligence service to eavesdrop on its own institutions and citizens, was used by hackers. Such 'backdoor' in the U.S.'s own telecommunication system is not only a 'U.S. feature,' but also the 'best practices' of 'Five Eyes,'" said the spokesman.
"Who is engaged in massive cyber-eavesdropping? Who is the largest hacking empire? The international community knows full well the answer. Cybersecurity is a global common challenge. China urges the U.S. to take responsible attitude, and reflect more on what it's doing instead of forming small groupings to smear others. China will continue to take necessary measures to safeguard its own security interests," he said.
China firmly opposes U.S. in smearing China on cybersecurity issues
