Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby called out Wednesday on Fox News a continual cyber espionage campaign allegedly driven by China.
Colby appeared on “The Ingraham Angle” to discuss the United States and United Kingdom’s recent allegations against China, accusing Beijing of over a decade-long cyber espionage campaign that allegedly targeted U.S. government institutions, critical infrastructure, media and political dissidents. Fox host Laura Ingraham asked the former Pentagon official his thoughts on the issue, to which Colby said that even after being sanctioned China is still not “changing anything.” (RELATED: Feds Crack Down On Pernicious Chinese Hacking Group That Targeted US Gov’t, Dissidents)
“I mean the striking thing about all of this is that actually Beijing and Xi Jinping are not changing anything they are doing,” Colby said. “They are continuing the cyber espionage you pointed to. They are continuing the extraordinary military buildup. There’s just a mock-up of Taiwan’s presidential palace that came up on Twitter. They’re water cannoning the Filipinos in the South China Sea.”
“And, more to the point, I mean The Journal was reporting today that actually, the message from China is, ‘Yeah, businesses can come back, but on China’s terms,'” he said. “They are shifting more to what they call a ‘delete America approach.’ So you’ve got Tim Cook of Apple saying everything is fine and dandy, but the Chinese aren’t giving that impression.”
Along with placing sanctions against the country Monday, the U.S. claimed that China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) used Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company, Limited (Wuhan XRZ) as a front to allow Chinese hackers to allegedly hide various malicious cyber operations.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said during a press conference that the Department of Justice would not “tolerate efforts by the Chinese government to intimidate Americans who serve the public, silence the dissidents who are protected by American laws, or steal from American businesses.”