CHINA CALLS TRUMP CYBERATTACK CLAIMS ‘FARCE, OUT OF POLITICAL MOTIVES’

Mon 21 December 2020:

China on Monday called “farce” and “out of political motives” on US President Donald Trump’s accusations of Beijing being involved in a huge cyberattack in the United States.

Trump on Twitter on Saturday played down Russian involvement on the cyberattack on several US government agencies and said that China “may” also be involved, contradicting the comments made by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin stopped short of directly denying Beijing’s involvement, but called US accusations of cyberattacks “not serious, and self-contradictory.”

“The accusations made by the US against China have always been a farce, out of political motives,” Wang told a press briefing.

“The US has politicised cybersecurity issues, continuously spread false information without conclusive evidence… in an attempt to destroy China’s image and mislead the international community,” he added.

Trump’s tweets on Saturday contradicted comments just a day earlier from his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the source and the severity of the cyberattack, leaving administration spokespeople scrambling to reconcile the conflicting takes.

Pompeo earlier said the breach was “pretty clearly” Russia’s work, adding there had been a significant effort to use third-party software to “essentially embed code inside of US government systems”.

Cyber experts said the attack could have far-reaching impact and take months to unravel.

Several US officials had previously pointed the finger at Moscow, but none at Beijing.

Russia has denied involvement in the latest attack.

Trump as president has frequently played down apparent threats from Russia — including his refusal to recognise interference by Moscow in the 2016 election despite the findings of US intelligence agencies.