Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin Photo: mfa.gov.cn

The Five Eyes alliance's repeated smearing and attacking China are merely to cover up the basic fact that the grouping itself is "the largest global intelligence agency and the US is the No.1 'hacking state' in the world,'' said a spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday, in response to the Five Eyes' warning against so-called Chinese hacker group Volt Typhoon.

China firmly opposes the baseless attacks and smears against China by the US and other Five Eyes alliance countries, Wang Wenbin said at a regular press conference. In May 2023, the Five Eyes alliance released a similar report smearing China. Less than a year later, the alliance staged a sequel to the smear campaign against China, which is still a "shoddy and inferior product," Wang said.

Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

These attacks on China are aimed at covering up the misconduct of the Five Eyes alliance itself, Wang said. The US has established a large cyber arsenal, which includes typical weapons like the "PRISM" program disclosed by Edward Snowden, the Project "CAMBERDADA" by the US media, the Equation group by the Shadow Brokers, and Vault 7 by WikiLeaks. These cyber weapons put the critical global infrastructure and people's life and production in all countries in jeopardy.

In addition to reports released yesterday, Chinese cybersecurity institutions have released multiple reports on US-related cybersecurity issues, which disclose how the US government puts critical global infrastructure in jeopardy and becomes the No. 1 "source of cyber risks and challenges." The US still owes the world an explanation, Wang said. 

He emphasized that China firmly opposes and will legally combat any form of cyber attacks. China proposed the Global Initiative on Data Security in 2020, which calls on all countries to jointly build a peaceful, secure, open, cooperative and orderly cyberspace, and oppose the use of information technology to undermine other countries' critical infrastructure, steal important data, as well as endanger their national security and public interests. 

If the Five Eyes alliance truly wants to safeguard cybersecurity, they are welcome to join the Global Initiative on Data Security, Wang said.

"Let's stay tuned and see what else is in the alliance' play script of spreading disinformation on 'Chinese cyberattacks,'" the spokesperson said.

Global Times