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(FILES) In this file photo, Dr. Nita Patel, director of antibody discovery and vaccine development, lifts a vial with a possible coronavirus vaccine, COVID-19, at Novavax Laboratories in Rockville, Maryland, on March 20, 2020, one of the laboratories developing a coronavirus vaccine, COVID-19. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)
Beijing on Thursday accused the United States of tarnishing China after Washington alleged that Chinese hackers were trying to steal investigations into the development of a coronavirus vaccine.
The claims have added fuel to tensions between the global superpowers, which have exchanged comments on the origin of the pandemic that has killed 300,000 people.
US authorities said on Wednesday that Chinese hackers were trying to obtain coronavirus data on treatments and vaccines, warning that the effort involved groups affiliated with the Chinese government and others.
The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said China’s efforts posed a “significant threat” to the United States’ response to COVID-19.
“China expresses strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to such discredit,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press conference.
“Judging from past records, the United States has carried out the world’s largest cyber-theft operations,” said Zhao.
He stressed that Beijing has important achievements of its own in fighting the pandemic.
China “also leads the world in the research and treatment of the COVID-19 vaccine” and therefore has more reason to worry about cyber espionage itself, Zhao said.
He added that the country has cracked down on cyber piracy, and that any cyber attack hindering the global fight against the pandemic must be condemned by people around the world.
Responding to US President Donald Trump’s reference to COVID-19 as the “China plague,” Zhao said the United States should stop blaming and discrediting others, and focus on its own prevention and control work. .
The virus first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
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