US vaccine data hack accusation criticized

China firmly opposes and combats cyber-attacks of any kind, the Foreign Ministry said.

“China is a staunch defender of cyber security but also a victim of hacking,” spokesperson Zhao Lijian said yesterday.

China now enjoys advanced vaccine studies and viral treatment, and any acts of making trumped-up charges without evidence are immoral, he said.

Zhao’s remarks came after the possible warning US will accuse China of trying to hack vaccine data as a part of a cyber theft.

The story, published by the New York Times, quoted a draft of a warning prepared by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security as saying China is seeking “valuable intellectual property and public health data through illicit means related to vaccines, treatments and testing.”

Trump and his administration threw their support behind conspiracy theories that the virus was made in a Wuhan lab. But Yuan Zhiming of the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory said that “there is absolutely no way that the virus originated from our institute.”