Defense military slams US for 'dangerous' cyber activity

The United States has proved to be an "unquestionable empire of hackers, eavesdropping and theft", said a spokesman for Chinese Defense Ministry on Thursday, expressing deep concern over "dangerous" cyber moves by the US.

"For a long time, the US has conducted cyber spying, monitoring and attacks on foreign governments, enterprises and individuals on a large-scale, organized and indiscriminate manner," said Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense, at a regular news conference, noting the US is violating international law and fundamental principles of international relations.

His comments came after Paul Nakasone, head of US Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, admitted in an early June interview that US military hackers have conducted "a series of operations across the full spectrum; offensive, defensive, [and] information operations" in support of Ukraine.

"As the victim of cyberattacks and the country advocating establishing a peaceful, secure and cooperative cyberspace, China is deeply concerned over those irresponsible and dangerous moves," said Tan.

The spokesman criticized the US side for sparing no effort in recent years in promoting cyberspace militarization, citing the US Department of Defense Cyber Strategy which adjusted the country's defense posture from "actively defend" to the more offensive "defend forward" to disrupt or halt what it said were malicious cyber activities at their sources.

The US military has been developing great offensive cyber combat forces, making cyber weapons more usable and creating a systematic cyberattack platform, he added.

Tan said that for the US to use its cyber hegemony to attack other countries under the guise of security is a double standard and violates the cyber sovereignty and information security of other countries. He added that such actions could very easily trigger a cyber arms race and damage global strategic stability.

"We call on the international community to fight against cyber hegemony and a cyberspace arms race," the spokesman said, noting that the Chinese side will take necessary measures to firmly safeguard its national cyber sovereignty and information security.