This photo taken on July 20, 2021 from the official Facebook account of the Chinese Mission to the European Union shows the building of the Chinese mission in Belgium.
HONG KONG – The Chinese Mission to the European Union (EU) on Tuesday expressed strong opposition to groundless accusations made by the EU and NATO about so-called "malicious" cyber activities that were allegedly carried out from China.
A spokesperson for the mission said the claim of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy that the cyberattacks came from from China and the subsequent NATO statement criticizing China were unfounded.
China is a firm defender of cybersecurity and always opposes and cracks down on cyber attacks launched within China or using Chinese cyber facilities in accordance with the law.
Spokesperson for the Chinese Mission to the EU
Those allegations were "not based on facts and evidence, but speculation and groundless accusations," the spokesperson said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
"China is a firm defender of cybersecurity and always opposes and cracks down on cyber attacks launched within China or using Chinese cyber facilities in accordance with the law," the spokesperson added.
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China, on the contrary, is a major victim of cyberattacks, said the spokesperson, citing an annual report by the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Center of China.
In 2020, about 5.31 million hosts on the Chinese mainland were controlled by about 52,000 overseas command and control servers, according to the report.
“This has severely harmed China’s national security, economic and social development and people’s lives,” the spokesperson said.
The top three origins of command and control servers in terms of the number of compromised Chinese hosts were all NATO member states, controlling 4.46 million, 2.15 million and 1.94 million hosts, respectively.
"We urge the countries concerned to adhere to international norms on cyberspace and take immediate and concrete measures to investigate and stop malicious cyber activities," the spokesperson said.
"It is also worth noting that NATO has made repeated and groundless accusations against China, attempting to break its geographical and sectoral constraints under the guise of cybersecurity and other issues. We are following this development with close attention," said the spokesperson.
Cybersecurity is a global issue that concerns the common interests of all, and the politicization of it does no good to solve related problems, the spokesperson noted.
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Last September, China put forward the Global Initiative on Data Security, which advocates that countries should stand against information and communications technology (ICT) activities that impair or steal important data of critical infrastructure in other countries. It is hoped that all countries will join the initiative and make clear commitments on cybersecurity, so as to jointly foster a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyberspace, the spokesperson said.