China blasts US for cyber attacks on Chinese university

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Wednesday said evidence proved that the United States is the greatest threat to global cyber security, calling for joint effort against US infringement on cyber sovereignty and international rules.

Wang made the remarks at a regular press briefing when asked to comment on a new investigation report on the cyber attacks by the US National Security Agency (NSA) released on Tuesday by China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center.

The report detailed how the NSA’s Office of Tailored Access Operation (TAO) controlled key infrastructure facilities in China and infiltrated into China’s Northwestern Polytechnical University’s internal network by using servers in countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark to host cyber weapons through stepping-stone attack via Japan, Germany, the Republic of Korea and other countries. This enabled the TAO to steal sensitive data and information of people with sensitive identities.

The US also secretly controlled the telecom carriers of at least 80 countries and conducted indiscriminate wiretapping on global telecom users, according to the report.

Wang said that this has been the third investigation report issued by the relevant Chinese institution this month on the NSA’s malicious cyber attacks on China’s Northwestern Polytechnical University.

According to Wang, China has in recent weeks demanded an explanation from the US and asked it to immediately stop illegal action through various channels. So far, however, the US has been silent.

“The US could not have been more bombastic and motivated when propagating the lies about ‘Chinese hackers’, yet it has deliberately chosen to be blind and mute in the face of the solid evidence collected by the Chinese institution. What exactly is the US hiding from the world?”

Noting that the US has long been known as “the empire of hacking and champion of secrets theft,” Wang said with its absolute dominance in the field of Internet technology, the US has exercised indiscriminate cyber control and theft on a global scale to benefit itself politically, militarily, diplomatically and commercially.

The bullying practices of the US in cyberspace have become a growing concern shared across the international community, Wang added.

“There is ample evidence that the US is no doubt the greatest threat to global cyber security,” Wang said, calling on countries to unite, stand up to US hegemonic act which damaged cyber sovereignty and international rules and work together to create a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyberspace.