NEW DELHI, March 2 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese embassy in India on Tuesday said it firmly opposed Indian media's allegation of cyberattacks from Chinese hackers on Indian facilities.
"The relevant allegations are pure rumors and slanders," said a spokesperson of the Chinese embassy in response to a query on some Indian media's quoting Western media as saying that Chinese hackers may have launched cyberattacks on India's power system, ports and two vaccine companies.
"Cyberattacks are highly complicated and sensitive, and their origin is difficult to trace. Speculation and fabrication have no role to play on the issue of cyberattacks. It is highly irresponsible to accuse a particular party when there is no evidence," the spokesperson said. "China is firmly opposed to such irresponsible and ill-intentioned practice."
Noting that for some time there had been certain speculation about China's so-called theft of other countries' vaccines through hacker attacks, the spokesperson said China takes the lead in vaccine research and development, and does not need to and will not rely on "stealing" to obtain vaccines.
"Both China and India are contributors to international cooperation on vaccines, and both have fallen victim to disinformation," said the spokesperson. "This is not in the common interests of the international community."
"We are firmly opposed to politicizing and stigmatizing cybersecurity issues, which is not conducive to resolving hacking issues and will only weaken mutual trust among countries," said the spokesperson, urging relevant media to deny such groundless disinformation platforms and channels for dissemination.
China, as a staunch defender of cybersecurity and also a major victim of hacking and cyberattacks, firmly opposes and combats all forms of cyberattacks and crimes, the spokesperson said.
"Cyberattacks are a challenge faced by all countries," said the spokesperson. "China calls on all countries to advance dialogue and cooperation and handle this challenge together on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit."
"China is ready to work with other parties to jointly address cybersecurity threats, safeguard peace and stability in cyberspace and build a community with a shared future in cyberspace," the spokesperson said. Enditem