US must stop using cyber weapons for espionage: Chinese spokesperson

The international community needs to stay on high alert against cyber attack activities conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States around the world, and the United States must stop using cyber weapons to carry out espionage and cyber attacks, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.

Spokesperson Mao Ning made the remarks at a regular press briefing when asked to comment on a report entitled "'Empire of Hacking': The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency," jointly issued by the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center of China and 360 Total Security on Thursday.

Mao quoted the report, saying that the CIA has gathered intelligence information from foreign governments, enterprises, and citizens over many years. The report also says they organized, directed, and supervised transboundary covert actions and secretly conducted "peaceful evolutions" and "color revolutions" globally.

The Agency has provided encrypted network communication services, reconnect services of networks, and on-site command communication tools for demonstrations to conflicting parties, developed relevant software and the "anti-censorship system," and carried out espionage activities, said Mao.

"The international community needs to stay on high alert against these moves," she said, adding that the large number of cases in China and other countries disclosed by the report once again testifies to the CIA's cyber attack activities globally over the years.

The spokesperson said the United States must take seriously and respond to the international community's concerns and stop using cyber weapons to carry out espionage and global cyber attacks.