Q: Recently, some Belgian media outlets have groundlessly accused China of launching malicious cyber attacks against a certain member of the Belgian parliament. What is your comment on this?

A: The Chinese side expresses its strong indignation and resolute opposition to such groundless and irresponsible speculation and accusation.

The Chinese side has made clear its position on relevant matter multiple times. We would like to reiterate that China opposes and fights all forms of hacking in accordance with the law. We do not support or connive at cyber attacks. We reject the Belgian side’s irresponsible assertion that “Chinese hacker groups” carried out the “malicious cyber activities” when it had neither put forward any request related to the issue nor presented any factual evidence. We also oppose the hype-up by relevant media out of ulterior motives in an attempt to slander the Chinese side.

As a matter of fact, cases like “Prism,” “Dirtbox,” “Irritant Horn” and “Telescreen Operation” have shown that a certain country, with its absolute dominance in the field of Internet technology, has exercised indiscriminate cyber surveillance and attacks on a global scale to benefit itself politically, militarily, diplomatically and commercially. The international community knows well who is known as the “empire of hacking” and “champion of secret theft”.

It must be pointed out that ensuring cybersecurity is a common challenge for countries. China has also been a victim seriously affected by cyber attacks. We hope parties will demonstrate greater strategic independence and join efforts to safeguard cybersecurity through dialogue and cooperation.