In a turn of events that goes against the most common narrative, China is actually criticizing the United States because of the NSA’s spying on China-based Huawei. Hong Lei, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, says that the country is “extremely concerned” over reports that the NSA hacked into Huawei to steal its source code and monitor emails.
China has lodged complaints to the United States about this many times. We urge the U.S. side to make a clear explanation and stop this kind of acts, – Hong Lei
Even though there is an obvious irony with China’s “concern” since the Chinese government has never been a fan of internet rights, spying on a company like Huawei is still something that should be brought to light and scrutinized.
China is calling for the US government to stop these operations, which has likely made for an interesting discussion between the US and Chinese presidents, since they are in the process of meeting with each other.
In the past, hackers who were allegedly linked to the Chinese government, attacked Western media outlets, the US government, and even some US companies. However, two wrongs do not make a right and corporate spying by any government is a major issue.
If the actions in the report are true, Huawei condemns such activities that invaded and infiltrated into our internal corporate network and monitored our communications, – John Suffolk, cyber security officer, Huawei
The NSA has reportedly been breaking into the company’s servers since 2007 as part of an operation called “Shotgiant.” Based upon the type of information that was collected, according to the Snowden documents, the NSA cannot hide behind the excuse that it is fighting terrorism.
Although there is little public evidence to support the claims, the US has continued to hold the belief that Huawei cannot be trusted because of alleged connections with the Chinese government.
Question – Should China be criticizing the US for this operation, considering its own track record?
Summary: China is speaking out against the US after documents were released showing that the NSA has spied on China-based Huawei since at least 2007.
image credit: ndtv