Reuters: Some Western countries and the analytics team of the US-based Microsoft said on Wednesday that a Chinese hacking group recently launched attacks against US key infrastructure, including in Guam. What’s the foreign ministry’s comment?

Mao Ning: We noted this extremely unprofessional report – a patchwork with a broken chain of evidence. We also noted that the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the cybersecurity agencies of the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, almost simultaneously issued similar reports. Apparently, this has been a collective disinformation campaign launched by the US through the Five Eyes to serve its geopolitical agenda.

It’s widely known that the Five Eyes is the world’s biggest intelligence association and the NSA the world’s biggest hacking group. It is ironic that the Five Eyes jointly released a report filled with disinformation.

The involvement of certain company in the report you mentioned indicates that the US is using additional channels to spread disinformation other than through government agencies. This is not the first time – and certainly not the last time – for them to do so. Whatever their subterfuge, it will not change the fact that the US is the champion of hacking. 

I remember that last September, details were revealed about NSA’s attacks on China’s Northwestern Polytechnical University in a report issued by Chinese institutions. The US should explain immediately about its cyber attacks and should not spread disinformation and detract attention from what it had done.