[photopress:it_news_foreign_minister__Yang_Jiechi.jpg,full,alignright]Chinese Foreign Minister denies his country is cyber-spying on others — but says China is a victim of web-attacks. Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, seen here, said: ‘The Chinese government firmly opposes hacking attacks . . . these are prohibited by law. Actually a number of Chinese agencies have been attacked by hackers.’
The comments were made after The Times reported the Director-General of MI5 sent letters to 300 executives and security chiefs at banks, accounting and legal firms warning them that Chinese state agencies were hacking into their systems and trying to steal confidential information.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman yesterday claimed that the report was slanderous and prejudiced and ignored the political, economic and social progress made by the country. China also alleged that the report was an attempt to put obstacles in the way of improved ties between Britain and China.
Gordon Brown is expected to make an official visit to Beijing in January. Mr Yang said he expected the trip to focus on ‘promoting world peace and security’.
The Times reported on Saturday that Jonathan Evans, the head of MI5, had written to businessmen warning them of industrial cyber-espionage that had been traced back to China. It may be that the announcement was made to take the heat off a series of security breaches within Britain caused by carelessness.
Nevertheless, it is true the security forces believe that companies doing business in China were under threat from hackers. (No one has yet explained how they are known to be Chinese hackers rather than hackers using the Chinese network which is full of holes.)
Source: The Times Online