Relations between the two countries are becoming a little more tense.
A few months before the British legislative elections, London on Monday accused the Chinese state of having carried out cyberattacks against parliamentarians critical of Beijing and against the United Kingdom Electoral Commission, announcing sanctions and a summons of the Chinese ambassador.
This affair comes on top of a succession of crises between the two countries in recent years, a far cry from the “golden age” desired in 2015 by former British Prime Minister David Cameron, now Minister of Business. foreign.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden came to Parliament to announce that “actors affiliated with the Chinese state” had committed “two malicious cyber actions”.
“This is the latest in a series of hostile activities by China, which includes targeting democratic institutions and parliamentarians in the United Kingdom and other countries,” he said.
On Monday afternoon, the American government announced the indictment of seven hackers associated with the Chinese government, accused of "computer intrusions targeting people perceived as critical of China, American companies and policies."
“No impact”
The British Electoral Commission, which supervises elections in the United Kingdom, announced in August 2023, without naming China, that it had been the victim of a cyberattack from “hostile actors” who had access to its system for more than of one year between 2021 and 2022. The attack allowed access to servers containing in particular copies of electoral registers with the data of 40 million voters, according to British media.
But, according to Oliver Dowden, these “attempts to interfere in the democracy of the United Kingdom have not succeeded”.
The intrusion “had no impact on election security,” and will have “no impact on how people register, vote or participate in democratic processes,” he said. .
To show its firmness a few months before the legislative elections in the United Kingdom, which must take place by the end of the year, "the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will summon the Chinese ambassador to report on the conduct of China in these incidents,” said Oliver Dowden.
Accusations “without factual basis” for China
Two individuals and a hacker organization affiliated with the Chinese state, APT31, will also be subject to sanctions for cyberespionage of parliamentarians critical of Beijing in July 2021. The seven Chinese nationals indicted in the United States for “conspiracy to "committing computer intrusions" and "electronic fraud" are also part of this group, the US Department of Defense said in a press release.
Asked Monday about press reports reporting the British accusations, the spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lin Jian, considered that it was necessary to rely on "objective evidence", rather than "defaming other countries without factual basis”.
Wanting to be reassuring, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared that the United Kingdom would do “what is necessary” to maintain its security and protect itself in the face of the “historic challenge” posed by an “increasingly assertive” China.
In September 2023, Rishi Sunak had already denounced to his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang “interference” from Beijing in Parliament in Westminster, after the revelation of two arrests for espionage that had occurred six months previously.