China dismisses new hacking accusations

China is dismissing new hacking accusations made by the United States and its allies. 

“The United States ganged up with its allies to make unwarranted accusations against Chinese cybersecurity,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.

“This was made up out of thin air and confused right and wrong. It is purely a smear and suppression with political motives,” he added. “China will never accept this.”

The U.S., along with the European Union, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and NATO, accused China’s Ministry of State Security on Monday of hiring hackers to carry out cyberattacks against multiple countries.

The U.S. has charged four Chinese nationals who are accused of compromising tens of thousands of organizations.

The developments follow an attack on Microsoft’s Exchange Server application in March that used zero-day exploits to access victim’s email accounts.

“China firmly opposes and combats any form of cyberattacks, and will not encourage, support or condone any cyberattacks,” Zhao said on Tuesday.

Zhao also lobbed accusations against the U.S., saying there have been multiple cyberattacks against China in the last 11 years that  “severely compromised” national and economic security.

“China once again strongly demands that the United States and its allies stop cyber theft and attacks against China, stop throwing mud at China on cybersecurity issues and withdraw the so-called prosecution,” Zhao said. “China will take necessary measures to firmly safeguard China’s cybersecurity and interests.”