BEIJING - China accused a US spy agency of hacking a government-funded university with aeronautics and space research programs, in Beijing's latest effort to hit back at Washington's complaints of cybersnooping.
The NSA conducted more than 10,000"vicious" cyberattacks on Chinese targets in recent years, collecting more than 140 gigabytes of data of"great value", it said. The NSA and State Department declined to comment on the allegations. Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray warned Western companies in July that China aims to"ransack" their intellectual property so it can eventually dominate key industries. Both countries previously agreed to not condone cybertheft of intellectual property or trade secrets during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Washington in 2015.
China has in the past typically responded to such criticism by casting itself as a victim of hacking, dismissing the US an"empire of hackers" and pointing to former NSA contractor Edward Snowden's revelations almost a decade ago about US espionage. The shift has been an effort to increase public awareness of US activities and to regain the diplomatic initiative globally from the US and its allies, which have for many years accused China of attacks, said Mr Greg Austin, an expert in Chinese cyberactivities at the Singapore-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.