The New Zealand government said it had raised concerns on Tuesday with the Chinese government about its involvement in a state-sponsored cyber hack on New Zealand’s parliament in 2021, which was uncovered by the country’s intelligence services.
The revelations that information was accessed through malicious cyber activity targeting New Zealand’s parliamentarian entities comes as Britain and the U.S. accuse China of a widesweeping cyber espionage campaign. Both New Zealand and Australia have condemned the broader activity.
“Foreign interference of this nature is unacceptable, and we have urged China to refrain from such activity in future,” New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
He said concerns about cyber activity attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese government, targeting democratic institutions in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom had been conveyed to the Chinese ambassador.
A top New Zealand intelligence official told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that seven of its citizens had provided training to China’s military in the last 18 months, in what he said was a “major national security risk”.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand said in an email that they reject “outright such groundless and irresponsible accusations” and have expressed their dissatisfaction and resolute opposition with New Zealand authorities.
“We have never, nor will we in the future, interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, including New Zealand. Accusing China of foreign interference is completely barking up the wrong tree,” the spokesperson said.
The government said earlier on Tuesday its communications security bureau (GCSB), which overseas cyber security and signals intelligence, had established links between a Chinese state-sponsored actor known as Advanced Persistent Threat 40 (APT40) and malicious cyber activity targeting New Zealand’s parliamentary services and parliamentary counsel office in 2021.