China’s embassy in Berlin have denounced as baseless German claims that Beijing was behind a cyber attack on a German government agency in 2021, condemning it of “anti-China political manipulation”.
Germany on Wednesday accused China of being behind a 2021 cyberattack on the federal mapping agency for espionage purposes and summoned Beijing’s ambassador to Berlin to file a complaint.
It is the latest country to accuse China of cyber-espionage, following the United States, Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, the Philippines, and New Zealand. China denies taking any such action.
A Chinese embassy statement released late on Wednesday said: “Germany has publicly made groundless accusations against China on the grounds of the so-called cyber intrusion into the Germany federal mapping office, which China has firmly rejected and lodged solemn representations with the German side.”
“China urges Germany to stop engaging in anti-China political manipulation and public opinion smears under the pretext of cyber security issues.”
Germany’s Interior Ministry said on Wednesday the government was able to attribute responsibility for the cyberattack to Chinese state actors based on information from its intelligence services.
China has repeatedly denied all such accusations against it and has said it has also been the victim of cyberattacks.
“China resolutely opposes and cracks down on all forms of hacker attacks and does not allow any country or individual to engage in cyber attacks and other illegal activities within the territory of China or using China’s infrastructure,” the Chinese embassy statement said.
