Lin Jian, the newly appointed 34th spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, meets the press. Photo: Courtesy of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs

China on Tuesday lodged a stern condemnation against UK’s allegations that China hacked into a database holding the personal information of the UK’s armed forces, saying China rejects the use of cybersecurity problems to smear other countries for political purposes. 

According to media reports, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has been targeted in a cyber attack on a third-party payroll system including the details of tens of thousands of British armed forces and veterans.

Some British government officials blame China for the attack and the UK security services are investigating whether China was trying to build profiles of members of the armed forces and people in other sensitive roles through a series of hacks of different databases holding personal information.

In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said during a Tuesday press briefing that the UK politicians’ accusation is purely unfounded.

China firmly opposes and fights all forms of cyber attacks. We also firmly reject using the cybersecurity issue politically to smear and vilify other countries, Lin said. 

A spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the UK said that the said accusation made by the UK side is nothing but a fabricated and malicious slander. It is extremely absurd and despicable. China strongly condemns it. 

China has all along been fighting cyber attacks according to law. We firmly oppose any groundless accusations against China out of political motives, the spokesperson said. 

We urge the UK side to stop spreading disinformation, and stop such self-staged political farces, the spokesperson added. 

The recent briefings from British politicians have started a new round of “China threat” hype with the focus on cybersecurity. Chinese observers said the smear campaign is not deviant from their long-term anti-China stance but intensified by the upcoming general election. 

Hyping “cyber attacks from China” continues on the anti-China path of Conservatives and is not very different from the UK's past smear campaigns against Chinese firms or products. Basically their argument is “anything from China can constitute a threat,” according to Li Guanjie, a research fellow with the Shanghai Academy of Global Governance and Area Studies under the Shanghai International Studies University. 

Analysts said painting China as a security threat also paves to protectionist policies in the economic realm. 

As global geopolitics become "Cold War-alike," such camp-based rather than fact-based rows will continue, analysts said, but China will firmly reject such smear campaigns and defend its own interests in line with the law.

Global Times