A view of the Mekong River. Photo: VCG

The Chinese Embassy in Cambodia on Thursday refuted a false report published by Reuters, which claimed that Chinese hackers "stole Mekong [River] data from Cambodia."

The Reuters report, also published on Thursday, quoted the US Justice Department and two anonymous sources as saying that Chinese hackers targeted Cambodia's foreign ministry and "stole data pertaining to discussions between the governments of China and Cambodia over the use of the Mekong River in January 2018."

The report had obvious factual and logical loopholes, completely based on fabrications made by the US, the embassy said. "We express grave concern and strong opposition to it," the embassy wrote on its website on Thursday evening.

It also disproved of the report's claim that the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia didn't respond to Reuters' comment requests. "That was grossly inconsistent with the facts," the embassy stated. "We have never received any inquiry from Reuters [regarding to this report]."

"We hoped that Reuters will strictly observe objectivity and enhance the professionalism and seriousness of its reporting," the embassy added.

China firmly opposes and combats all forms of cyberattacks, still less will it encourage, support or condone hacker attacks, said the embassy.

It criticized that US as the world's biggest source of cyberattacks, including even eavesdropping on its own "allies." "The US' credibility has long been broken when it comes to cyber security," the embassy noted. "Its tricks such as making up lies and sowing discord are like 'the emperor's new clothes,' nothing but a self-deception."

Global Times