Q: According to WikiLeaks, the US carried out cyber espionage against 35 Japanese targets, including some members of the Japanese cabinet. What is your comment?

A: We noted the reports.

The US government has not only carried out large-scale, systematic and indiscriminatory cyber espionage against other countries in the world, but also attempted recently to deploy cyber forces to relevant countries in the name of capacity-building cooperation to infiltrate these countries’ cyber system. The US has even resorted to media and other forms of disinformation of so-called “Chinese hackers” in order to induce or coerce relevant countries, particularly those around China, to receive US cyber force deployment, which is akin to inviting a wolf into their house, given the fact that the US leads the world in hacking technology. This not only endangers their own cybersecurity, but also turns themselves into a bridgehead or springboard for US government’s cyber attacks against China without their knowledge.

Cyber military forces are different from conventional military forces. They are strategically important. The nature of abovementioned US deployment of cyber forces is no different from deploying intermediate-range missiles and anti-missile systems next to China. The move is essentially tying China’s neighbors to the chariot of the US. It gravely harms China’s strategic security interest and can easily cause major risks of miscalculation. China opposes the US deployment of cyber forces in China’s neighboring countries and condemns the US disinformation campaign. We hope the international community, in particular China’s neighbors, will judge for themselves what the US’s true intentions are.