BEIJING – A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday the United States is worthy of the name of the "empire of wiretapping" and "empire of secret stealing," urging the country to stop its malicious cyber activities immediately.
According to relevant reports, multiple Chinese scientific research institutions have been under cyber attack from the US National Security Agency (NSA), and the NSA has installed Trojan horse programs inside at least over a hundred important information systems in China. To date, many such programs are still running and sending intelligence back to the NSA.
According to relevant reports, multiple Chinese scientific research institutions have been under cyber attack from the US National Security Agency, and the NSA has installed Trojan horse programs inside at least over a hundred important information systems in China
"China condemns such malicious cyber activities by the US government. We demand that the US offers an explanation and immediately stop such irresponsible behavior," spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a daily press briefing.
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Noting the United States as a well-known habitual offender regarding cyber secret stealing, Zhao said that in 2020, China captured more than 42 million malicious computer program samples. And 53.1 percent of the programs from overseas were traced to the United States, Zhao said citing a previous report from China's National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team website.
Zhao said the United States doesn't even let its own citizens off the hook concerning cyber secret stealing. He said that over the past year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted 3.4 million searches on digital data of US citizens without any warrant, according to a report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Zhao pointed out that the relevant report also disclosed that Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has coordinated with the United States to conduct cyber attacks and steal secrets. "This shows the United States and its core allies have become the axis of global cyber secret stealing."
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Zhao said that in the face of doubts and opposition from the international community, the United States did not restrain its large-scale cyber secret stealing behavior. Instead, it expanded its national defense budget regarding cyber activities, enlarged cyber troops, and conducted various cyber warfare drills.
NATO
Meanwhile, China expressed serious concern and firm opposition to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's newly published strategic concept document, saying it is full of Cold War mentality and ideological bias and sticks to the wrong positioning of a systemic challenge to China.
Zhao made the remarks at the news briefing when asked to comment on the document. He said the document distorts facts, smears China's foreign policy, makes irresponsible remarks on China's normal military development and national defense policy, encourages confrontation and conflicts, and is full of Cold War mentality and ideological bias.
"China is gravely concerned and firmly opposed to this," said Zhao.
China expressed serious concern and firm opposition to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's newly published strategic concept document, saying it is full of Cold War mentality and ideological bias and sticks to the wrong positioning of a systemic challenge to China
China is always a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and a guardian of international order, Zhao said, adding that China has never invaded any country, never waged a proxy war, nor joined or formed any military bloc.
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"We are committed to the path of peaceful development, promoting the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, and advancing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. We have proposed and implemented the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, and provided a large number of public goods for the international community to address major issues including peace and development," said the spokesperson.
"People all over the world are aware of the great opportunities brought by China's peaceful development. This is definitely not the systemic challenges described by NATO," Zhao said, adding that NATO itself, in contrast, is the systemic challenge to world peace and stability.
He said NATO claims to be a regional and defensive organization, but in fact, it has been transgressing regions and fields, constantly waging wars and killing civilians, and now NATO has extended its reach to the Asia-Pacific region in an attempt to export the Cold War mentality.
"The Asia-Pacific region is a pacesetter of peace and stability and a promising land for cooperation and development. Any act that harms peace and stability and undermines unity and cooperation in the region will be jointly opposed by the Chinese people and the people of Asia-Pacific countries, and is doomed to fail," said Zhao.
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