The US owes the international community an explanation over the leaked Pentagon documents as they clearly show its close and constant eavesdropping on many countries including its allies, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday, revealing five typical cases of cyber attacks conducted by the US government.
Wang’s remarks came after the online leaking of a set of highly classified Pentagon documents in recent weeks, which have exposed the extent of US eavesdropping on key allies, including South Korea, Israel and Ukraine.
The US is the culprit of cyber warfare, the biggest promoter of advanced cyber weapons, and the world’s largest cyber thief, said Wang after listing cases picked out of a report released by China Cybersecurity Industry Alliance on Tuesday.
The report uncovered cyber attacks, surveillance and secret thefts carried out by US intelligence agencies.
Wang listed cases including the US’ deploying of Stuxnet computer virus to attack a nuclear facility in Iran in 2010, which opened the Pandora’s box of cyber warfares among nations, and the backdoor hidden in cryptographic standards released by National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2013, which made supply chain cyber attacks expand to technical standards.
Wang also mentioned the “PRISM incident” in 2013, which revealed the US’ global cyber secret theft and invasion of other countries’ network devices, the US’ “Project CAMBERDADA” in 2015 which aimed at invading and suppressing other countries’ cybersecurity vendors, and its leakage of a cyber attack weapon which caused the global widespread of the ransomware worm WannaCry in 2017.
Despite this record of cyber attacks, Wang said the US has continued to suppress Chinese enterprises under the excuse of data security without any proof and then threatens its allies who suffer from its secret thefts to join it.
The so-called “Clean Network” and “technologies consistent with democratic values and interests” proclaimed by the US only allows conditions for itself to steal secrets and conduct cyber attacks, Wang noted.
Calling the leak of highly classified Pentagon documents “another PRISM incident,” Chinese experts on Tuesday said it gives a rare chance to glimpse into how the US spies on its allies, which will exacerbate the lack of strategic mutual trust between them and deal a heavy blow to Washington’s strategy of maintaining global hegemony.
(Global Times)
