The United States is going to publicly accuse China of attempting to hack US research into a coronavirus vaccine to steal useful information, American newspapers reported on Monday.
US federal police and Department of Homeland Security to issue " official warning " in the coming days warning of suspected attempts to "illegally obtain valuable intellectual property and public health information from vaccines, treatments, and testing, " according to the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal .
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In the FBI's sights, hackers and "non-traditional actors" , in other words researchers and students who, according to the administration of Donald Trump, are activated to steal information from university institutes and public laboratories where they working.
They are in any case suspected of acting on behalf of China, say the two daily newspapers.
When questioned by AFP, the US State Department refused to confirm or deny this information. "We continue to urge all foreign governments to honor their commitment to act responsibly to promote stability in cyberspace," added a spokesperson.
The United States has long criticized the Asian giant for engaging in industrial espionage and has made the defense of its intellectual property a priority in the trade war between the two great powers. But such an accusation risks further aggravating relations between Washington and Beijing, already very tense since the appearance of the new coronavirus in late 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
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China's foreign ministry on Monday cleared any suspicion of hacking after the New York Times released its information . “China is a big defender of cybersecurity and a victim of cyber attacks. We strongly oppose and fight any kind of cyber attack by hackers , " said his spokesman Zhao Lijian at a press conference. "We are at the forefront of global research into a vaccine and treatment for Covid-19 disease. It is immoral to target China with rumors and slander in the absence of evidence, " he said.
The American president openly suspects Beijing of having hidden a laboratory accident in Wuhan which would have been at the origin of the pandemic.