China Says Hacking Claims by US and UK is 'Political Slander'

Britain, the US and China are at loggerheads again over allegations of Chinese cyber-attacks on key institutions.

Beijing on Tuesday accused the US and Britain of slandering and smearing China and urged them to stop politicising cybersecurity, and imposing unilateral sanctions on the country.

“It is pure political manoeuvring for the United States and the United Kingdom to rehash the so-called cyber-attacks carried out by China and to sanction Chinese individuals and entities,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular press briefing.

“China is strongly dissatisfied with this and firmly opposes it,” he said.

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US and British officials on Monday filed charges, imposed sanctions, and accused Beijing of a sweeping cyber-espionage campaign that allegedly hit millions of people.

The BBC said the personal details of millions of voters were accessed during cyber-attacks in August 2021 on the UK Electoral Commission.

Authorities on both sides of the Atlantic nicknamed the hacking group Advanced Persistent Threat Group 31 or “APT31”, calling it an arm of China’s Ministry of State Security.

‘Fabricated and malicious slander’

The Chinese Embassy in London, however, called the charges “completely fabricated and malicious slanders.”

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin said: “Previously, China had made technical clarifications and responses to the so-called APT31 information submitted by the British side. It clearly shows that the evidence provided by the British side is insufficient and the relevant conclusions lack professionalism.

“Regrettably, however, the British side has not responded further since then,” he added.

Britain also accused Chinese hackers of trying to break into email accounts of British lawmakers who were critical of China.

Lin said China has made solemn representations to all relevant parties, “and will take necessary measures to safeguard China’s legitimate rights and interests.”

Several other countries have also lobbed hacking and cyber-attack allegations against China, all of which the country has denied.

On Tuesday, the New Zealand government said it had raised concerns with the Chinese government about its involvement in a state-sponsored cyber hack on New Zealand’s parliament in 2021.

And earlier this year, the United States said it launched an operation to fight a pervasive Chinese hacking operation that compromised thousands of internet-connected devices.

The Guardian reported on Tuesday that Australian intelligence determined that China was responsible for a cyber-attack on its national parliament and its three biggest political parties before the general election in 2019 but the Australian government never disclosed officially who was behind the attacks.