China calls cyber spying claims ‘groundless frame-ups’ as West issues fresh warning

Chinese embassy in New Zealand also urges end to use of cybersecurity issues to ‘slander and smear China’, saying it is itself a victim

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A joint advisory from New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the US has warned about China-affiliated “threat actors” trying to “conduct a broad and significant cyber espionage campaign”. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 7:00pm, 7 Dec 2024

Efforts by New Zealand, the United States and other allies against alleged China-linked espionage activities are “groundless and irresponsible”, Beijing said on Saturday, claiming that it had been a “main victim” of large-scale cyberattacks.

The statement was in response to an advisory from New Zealand and its international partners Australia, Canada and the US earlier this week, warning that “threat actors [affiliated with the People’s Republic of China] compromised networks of major global telecommunications providers to conduct a broad and significant cyber espionage campaign”.

Beijing “rejects such groundless and irresponsible attacks and frame-ups”, the Chinese embassy in New Zealand said.

It also urged countries to stop launching cyberattacks around the world and to not use cybersecurity issues to “slander and smear China”.

The advisory, published on Tuesday, included guidelines for network engineers and “defenders of communications infrastructure” to “harden their network devices against successful exploitation carried out by PRC-affiliated and other malicious cyber actors”.

New Zealand’s National Cyber Security Centre said the recommendations offered “the best protection against a PRC-affiliated threat actor that has compromised networks of major global telecommunications provider” but did not name the actor.