The US House of Representatives Oversight Committee announced Wednesday that it is opening an investigation into China’s suspected involvement in recent breaches of Commerce and State Department emails.
Representative James Comer, who chairs the committee, as well as the heads of two subcommittees, requested Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Secretary of State Antony Blinken for staff briefings by 9 August.
“We are also concerned that this attack on federal agencies, including the email account of a senior US government official such as yourself, reflects a new level of skill and sophistication from China’s hackers,” the lawmakers wrote to Raimondo.
Raimondo was among the senior-most US officials whose emails were hacked earlier this year by a group of hackers that Microsoft said was based in China.
Counter Espionage Activities
On Wednesday, the US also raised concerns over China’s new attempts to encourage its citizens to join Beijing’s counter-espionage work.
Just a day prior to that, China’s Ministry of State Security had said that the country must encourage its citizens to join counter-espionage work, including creating channels for individuals to report suspicious activity and rewarding such actions.
The ministry said that a system that allows “normal” people to participate in counter-espionage should be established.
Washington said that it has been closely monitoring the implementation of China’s expanded anti-spying law.
“We do have concerns over it, certainly encouraging citizens to spy on each other is something that’s of great concern,” State Department spokesperson Matt Miller told a daily news briefing.
“We are closely monitoring the implementation of China’s new counter-espionage law as we have been, which as written greatly expands the scope of what activities are considered espionage,” he said.
US to Open Investigation into Chinese Hacking of Government Emails
Washington said that it has been closely monitoring the implementation of Beijing’s expanded anti-spying law.
August 3, 2023
IMAGE SOURCE: THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRSRepresentational image.