In the latest round of finger-pointing, some US media outlets reported that a Chinese-owned company hacked former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server and obtained nearly all her emails, citing unnamed sources.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying at the regular press conference on August 29, 2018. (Photo: fmprc.gov.cn)
The Daily Caller reported that a company operating in the area of Washington, D.C., wrote code that was embedded in the server and generated an instant “courtesy copy” for “nearly all of her emails,” which was then forwarded to the Chinese company.
The fringe report was picked up by Fox News and then promoted by US President Donald Trump shortly afterward.“Report just out: ‘China hacked Hillary Clinton’s private Email Server,’” Trump wrote on his Twitter account, without citing evidence.
At a regular press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying was asked if this is true or an internal political game of the United States.
“Such allegations are nothing new,” Hua told the daily news briefing.
Hua noted that cybersecurity is a global issue concerning the interests of all countries and must be protected by the international community, adding that those who care about cybersecurity will remember the PRISM program, the “Equation Group,” and the WannaCry ransomware, which ravaged computers systems worldwide and which was set off by some country busy designing offensive cyber weapons.
“China is a staunch champion of cyber security and firmly opposes and cracks down on all forms of cyber attacks and espionage activities,” she said. “China believes that the international community should jointly address threats to cyber security through dialogue and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.”
Cover image: Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton greets Senator Bernie Sanders at the Inaugural Luncheon at Statuary Hall in the US Capitol following Donald Trump's inauguration as the 45th President of the United States, in Washington, DC on January 20, 2017. (File photo: VCG)