Thread by @StephenMcDonell

Wow! Reports that #USA, #Britain, #Australia, #Canada, #Japan #Germany etc set to call out #China Ministry of StateSecurity hackers including indictments. Allegation is that it’s been to steal intellectual property. It’ll be a firey session at Chinese Foreign Ministry tomorrow.

Plus looks like sanctions on #China could follow. So much for those happy trade war negotiations. #USA

2 Chinese citizens named ZhuHua & ZhangShilong have been named as hackers linked to #China’s Ministry of StateSecurity+now facing #USA indictments re alleged theft of sensitive commercial secrets. US officials say there’s massive systemic hacking backed by the Chinese Government

They are said to work for a technology company in Tianjin with links to Chinese State Security and to be part of a hacking group identified by #USA investigators as Advanced Persistent Threat 10.

The two alleged hackers from #China are accused by the #USA of conducting these operations from 2006 up until this year.

The 2 Chinese alleged hackers said to be working for Huaying Haitai Science and Technology Development in Tianjin & to have “acted in association with” #China’s state security. Anyone out there working for Huaying Haitai needing to get stuff off your chest? Drop me a message. :-)

This big #China #USA news happened overnight if you’re just waking up in Asia.

#China has responded to the #USA hacking indictment saying that Washington should drop the case against two Chinese citizens and claiming that the allegations are fabricated. (See attached)

BTW so remiss of me not to point out the hacker names allegedly used according to the indictment: amongst them we have Zhang Shilong aka "Baobeilong" (baby dragon) aka "Zhang Jiangguo" (Zhang birth-of-a-nation) and Zhu Hua aka "Godkiller" (that one speaks for itself). #China #USA

And the #USA cyber security agencies' code word for this #China hacker team is my new favourite potential band name: Advanced Persistent Threat 10 !

More from #China Foreign Ministry's Spokeswoman Hua Chunyin today: These are "groundless accusations" from the #USA relying on "un-named sources" and "incorrect numbers". She said, unlike Washington, "China has never supported anyone in cyber espionage". Really?

Who would believe that any major world power has "never supported anyone in cyber espionage"? If that was the case you'd have to sack the entire leadership of your intelligence agencies.

I asked if the indictment against 2 alleged hackers would impact negotiations to break the #China #USA trade war. FM Spokeswoman said: "We urge the US to correct its wrong words and deeds, stop indicting Chinese people and stop harming our co-operation in key areas" ie yes?