China firmly opposes U.S. repeatedly using "cyber security" as excuse to smear China: spokesman

China

China firmly opposes U.S. repeatedly using "cyber security" as excuse to smear China: spokesman

2026-07-14 16:43 Last Updated At：21:47

The United States has repeatedly courted regional countries and used "cyber security" as an excuse to smear China for geopolitical purposes, and the Chinese side is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposes this, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Tuesday in Beijing.

Speaking in a daily press briefing, Lin was responding to a media query concerning a joint statement by Paraguay's Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies and the U.S. Embassy in Paraguay falsely accusing China of conducting malicious cyber activities against the Paraguayan government.

"China is against hacking and combats it in accordance with the law. We are firmly against politically-motivated disinformation concerning cybersecurity. The United States has long engaged in systemic global cyber attacks and meanwhile making other countries join the U.S. in slandering China on cybersecurity only to advance the U.S. own geopolitical agenda. China strongly deplores and firmly rejects this. We urge those countries not to be used as geopolitical tools and accomplice of the U.S. government in spreading the 'Chinese cyber attack' disinformation,'" said Lin.

China records ten consecutive quarters of trade growth with ASEAN

China has recorded ten consecutive quarters of growth in imports and exports with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the data for the second quarter of this year from the General Administration of Customs GAC) showed on Tuesday.

China's trade with ASEAN reached 4.34 trillion yuan (about 640 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2026, marking an 18.2-percent increase compared to the same period of last year, according to GAC.

"In the first half of this year, China's imports and exports with ASEAN stood at 4.34 trillion yuan, up 18.2 percent year on year on. Of this total, imports and exports in the second quarter accounted for 2.37 trillion yuan which represented a year-on-year growth of 20.2 percent and marking the 10th consecutive quarter of growth.," said Lyu Daliang, a spokesman for the customs bureau, at a press briefing.

"China and ASEAN have continuously strengthened infrastructure connectivity. In the first half of the year, China's imports and exports with ASEAN via the new western land-sea corridor grew by 18.2 percent, with railway and highway transport increasing by 24.7 percent and 17.5 percent, respectively," Lyu said.

Established in 1967, ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Timor-Leste.