China’s foreign ministry pushed back forcefully this week against U.S. accusations that Chinese state-sponsored hackers ran a years-long campaign against American federal agencies, calling the claims “smearing” and vowing to protect Chinese companies’ interests.
The Original Accusation
The Justice Department and FBI announced this week they had disrupted a Chinese hacking operation, tracked as QTFY, that used two platforms called QScan and QTRouter to compromise or target U.S. institutions including NASA, the Federal Reserve, the Department of Justice, and the U.S. Senate, with some intrusions dating back years. Federal officials said the platforms were operated by a Nanjing-based company tied to China’s Ministry of State Security.
Beijing’s Response
China’s foreign ministry accused Washington of “spreading false information” and “distorting right and wrong,” saying it has “strong dissatisfaction with and firm opposition to” what it called a repeated pattern of the U.S. using cybersecurity accusations to smear China. A ministry spokesperson said China “firmly opposes the discriminatory restrictions on Chinese companies and will firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.”
A Familiar Pattern
Accusation-and-denial exchanges over state-sponsored hacking have become a recurring feature of U.S.-China relations, with Washington periodically unsealing indictments or seizing infrastructure tied to alleged Chinese operations and Beijing consistently denying involvement while accusing the U.S. of politicizing cybersecurity. Neither side’s claims in this case have been independently verified by a neutral third party.
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