China Says Microsoft Hacking Accusations Fabricated By US And Allies

China has challenged US-led accusations that Beijing was at the
heart of a wave of global cyber attacks including an offensive
against a Microsoft email application that affected tens of
thousands of organisations.

Diplomats across the EU, UK, Canada, Norway and New Zealand
issued statements on Tuesday slamming the allegations as
“groundless” and a “malicious smear”.

“China urges Canada to abandon its cold war mentality and
ideological prejudice . . . stop political manipulation on relevant
issues, and stop unprovoked attacks and deliberate slander against
China,” said Beijing’s embassy in Ottawa.

Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry,
stressed that the claims of a small number of countries did not
represent the international community and called on the US to stop
its own cyber attacks against his country.

“China will take necessary measures to firmly protect its cyber
security and its own interests,” he said.

Beijing’s sharp response followed a rare co-ordinated effort by
the US, Nato, the EU, the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and
Japan. The western allies accused China of collaborating with
criminal cyber gangs and compromising global security, including an
attack on Microsoft’s Exchange application that allowed hackers to
access the email systems of a wide range of private and public
sector organisations.

The US also alleged that Beijing’s Ministry of State Security
oversaw a sweeping campaign to infiltrate foreign companies,
universities and government organisations throughout much of the
2010s.

The Global Times, a state-backed tabloid, accused US-based
hackers of longstanding and repeated cyber attacks on Chinese
companies, research institutes and Communist party departments. The
nationalist paper alleged one US-based group called “A” launched
so-called brute force attacks last October in a bid to remotely
access servers from Chinese groups, including Chinese steel and car
engine companies.

“All major countries occasionally suffer from cyber attacks and
in this regard China has been harmed much more than the US,” it
wrote in an editorial.

“The US is forcibly creating a new area of geopolitics by
turning an internet dispute into a major clash,” by roping in
allies to frame China as a sinister actor, it added.

The co-ordinated effort followed a separate joint approach by
the US, UK, the EU and Canada in March to impose sanctions against
Chinese officials over the mass internment of ethnic minorities in
Xinjiang. Beijing retaliated with its own sanctions and the
resulting diplomatic spat led to a freeze in EU-China market-access
negotiations.

Fergus Hanson, director of the International Cyber Policy Centre
at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a think-tank, said
the multilateral approach was “harder to counter” for China.

“Beijing would like to keep the issue bilateral, where it can
appeal to, or punish, individual countries,” he said.

The accusations over China’s alleged cyber activities came amid
intensifying diplomatic hostilities between the world’s two biggest
economies.

Washington and Beijing have not held top-level meetings since
March, when talks in Alaska between Antony Blinken, US secretary of
state, and Yang Jiechi, the top Chinese foreign policy official,
ended acrimoniously.

Beijing this month refused to grant Wendy Sherman, US deputy
secretary of state, a meeting with her counterpart in China when
she visits Asia this week. China had previously rebuffed requests
for Lloyd Austin, US defence secretary, to meet General Xu Qiliang,
China’s most senior military official.

The latest US-China stand-off has also emerged as Joe Biden
seeks to step up engagement after months of pursuing a more
hardline stance against the policies of Xi Jinping, the Chinese
president.

Despite those overtures, however, the Biden administration has
continued to exert pressure over Beijing’s crackdown in Hong Kong
and policies that erode freedoms promised to financial hub
following the handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

China has challenged US-led accusations that Beijing was at the
heart of a wave of global cyber attacks including an offensive
against a Microsoft email application that affected tens of
thousands of organisations.

Diplomats across the EU, UK, Canada, Norway and New Zealand
issued statements on Tuesday slamming the allegations as
“groundless” and a “malicious smear”.

“China urges Canada to abandon its cold war mentality and
ideological prejudice . . . stop political manipulation on relevant
issues, and stop unprovoked attacks and deliberate slander against
China,” said Beijing’s embassy in Ottawa.

Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry,
stressed that the claims of a small number of countries did not
represent the international community and called on the US to stop
its own cyber attacks against his country.

“China will take necessary measures to firmly protect its cyber
security and its own interests,” he said.

Beijing’s sharp response followed a rare co-ordinated effort by
the US, Nato, the EU, the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and
Japan. The western allies accused China of collaborating with
criminal cyber gangs and compromising global security, including an
attack on Microsoft’s Exchange application that allowed hackers to
access the email systems of a wide range of private and public
sector organisations.

The US also alleged that Beijing’s Ministry of State Security
oversaw a sweeping campaign to infiltrate foreign companies,
universities and government organisations throughout much of the
2010s.

The Global Times, a state-backed tabloid, accused US-based
hackers of longstanding and repeated cyber attacks on Chinese
companies, research institutes and Communist party departments. The
nationalist paper alleged one US-based group called “A” launched
so-called brute force attacks last October in a bid to remotely
access servers from Chinese groups, including Chinese steel and car
engine companies.

“All major countries occasionally suffer from cyber attacks and
in this regard China has been harmed much more than the US,” it
wrote in an editorial.

“The US is forcibly creating a new area of geopolitics by
turning an internet dispute into a major clash,” by roping in
allies to frame China as a sinister actor, it added.

The co-ordinated effort followed a separate joint approach by
the US, UK, the EU and Canada in March to impose sanctions against
Chinese officials over the mass internment of ethnic minorities in
Xinjiang. Beijing retaliated with its own sanctions and the
resulting diplomatic spat led to a freeze in EU-China market-access
negotiations.

Fergus Hanson, director of the International Cyber Policy Centre
at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a think-tank, said
the multilateral approach was “harder to counter” for China.

“Beijing would like to keep the issue bilateral, where it can
appeal to, or punish, individual countries,” he said.

The accusations over China’s alleged cyber activities came amid
intensifying diplomatic hostilities between the world’s two biggest
economies.

Washington and Beijing have not held top-level meetings since
March, when talks in Alaska between Antony Blinken, US secretary of
state, and Yang Jiechi, the top Chinese foreign policy official,
ended acrimoniously.

Beijing this month refused to grant Wendy Sherman, US deputy
secretary of state, a meeting with her counterpart in China when
she visits Asia this week. China had previously rebuffed requests
for Lloyd Austin, US defence secretary, to meet General Xu Qiliang,
China’s most senior military official.

The latest US-China stand-off has also emerged as Joe Biden
seeks to step up engagement after months of pursuing a more
hardline stance against the policies of Xi Jinping, the Chinese
president.

Despite those overtures, however, the Biden administration has
continued to exert pressure over Beijing’s crackdown in Hong Kong
and policies that erode freedoms promised to financial hub
following the handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997.