Chinese companies may be targeted by asset freezes
China opposes the willful imposition of sanctions by any country on citizens and entities of another country through its laws, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Thursday, after the US government unveiled a new sanctions program against cyber attacks.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday ordered a sanctions program that could block the assets of hackers or companies that seek to profit from cyber attacks and hurt US national security or business interests. He added that hackers in China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are among those which had attacked U.S. government or business targets.
Obama also said that hackers are hard to go after partly because "some governments are either unwilling or unable to crack down on those responsible."
In response, Hua said at Thursday's press conference in Beijing that China firmly opposes and combats any form of cyber attack, and this stance remains consistent and clear.
She said that cyber attacks are usually launched across nations and are hard to trace, thus requiring the efforts of the international community to solve through dialogue and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect and trust instead of unilateral sanctions.
The program, which is believed to be the first aimed at cyber attacks in U.S., is part of the country's plan to form international rules for cyberspace in a world confronted with increasing cyberspace security risks, Chinese cyberspace security experts said.
Under the order, the U.S. Treasury would be able to freeze or block assets of those involved in attacks on "critical" US computer networks like banking systems or power grids.
Chinese companies are likely to be targeted since the U.S. has been accusing China of being a major source of cyber attacks without concrete evidence, said Li Yuxiao, director of the International School at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications.
In the latest case, the U.S. accused China of being behind a hacking attack that led to the data theft of up to 80 million customers of US health insurance giant Anthem on February 6. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the claim is groundless.
Most cyber attacks are transnational and it is easy for hackers to attack another country through the network and service provider in a third country, so it's hard to trace, said Zuo Xiaodong, vice president of the China Information Security Research Institute.
"Although China has been accused many times, the U.S. has never provided concrete evidence," Zuo said, citing his own experience in Washington, where the US State Department failed to provide more evidence other than those mentioned in media reports.
"China believes that the two countries can cooperate and China can assist in the investigation if the US provides enough evidence," Zuo said, recalling his involvement in a discussion between Chinese and U.S. information officials and experts in Washington in October 2014.
China called off its participation in the U.S.-China Cyber Working group, after the US Justice Department indicted in May 2014 five Chinese military officers for hacking and economic espionage.
The talks remain suspended.
To deal with the possibility that Chinese companies may be targeted by the U.S. government for allegedly launching cyber attacks, the Chinese government should accelerate the drafting of a cyberspace security law, Li said, adding that with such a law, Chinese authorities can do more things other than lodging a "representation" or "protest" against foreign accusations of cyber attacks.
In an article on Wednesday in the Washington Free Beacon, U.S. officials also accused China of boosting "cyber warfare funding" by billions of dollars.
China is incapable of such "warfare" as China is itself a victim of cyber attacks and is often being used as a third country to launch attacks, an Internet engineer from the China Information Technology Security Evaluation Center, told the Global Times on condition of anonymity. Rather than slowing down cyberspace research, China should work harder to strengthen cyber security, he said.
He added that accusing China, rather than cooperating, will affect bilateral ties.
Lu Wei, minister of the Cyberspace Administration of China, revealed last year that 80 percent of local government websites were hacked and over 10,000 websites were tampered with every month.
According to Edward Snowden's leaks, the US National Security Agency's alleged China hacking unit has "successfully penetrated" Chinese computers and telecoms companies for at least 15 years, the Washington Post reported.
The Washington Free Beacon reported that the U.S. military is seeking $5.5 billion for cyberspace-related programs in the 2016 fiscal year.
