The United States joined the sanctions, saying that the attacks are “directly endangering US national security”. A statement from the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) named the company as Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company Limited.
The individuals were named as Zhao Guangzong and Ni Gaobin, which OFAC said are afilliated with the company.
In a dramatic twist that could disrupt a relative détente in bilateral ties, the UK authorities also accused Chinese entities of hacking the country’s Electoral Commission between 2021 and 2022 .
“The UK, supported by allies across the Five Eyes partnership, have today identified that China state-affiliated actors were responsible for two malicious cyber campaigns targeting democratic institutions and parliamentarians,” read a statement from the British Foreign Office.
The commission is an independent agency that regulates party and election finance and sets standards for how elections should be run. Its systems were “highly likely compromised by a China state-affiliated cyber entity”, the statement said.
While this meant that millions of British voters had their details accessed by Beijing, it has “not had an impact on electoral processes”, it added.
Cabinet members slammed China’s cyber attacks, with Foreign Secretary David Cameron saying he had raised them with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
Claims of spy in UK parliament spark new debate over relations with China
Claims of spy in UK parliament spark new debate over relations with China
“It is completely unacceptable that China state-affiliated organisations and individuals have targeted our democratic institutions and political processes,” Cameron said in a statement.
Home Secretary James Cleverly, who as Cameron’s predecessor oversaw a thaw in UK-China relations, described the hacks as “reprehensible”.
“China’s attempts at espionage did not give them the results they wanted and our new National Security Act has made the UK an even harder target. Our upcoming elections, at local and national level, are robust and secure,” Cleverly said.
A small group of hawkish lawmakers were called to a briefing with the parliament’s head of security on Monday lunchtime, after which they confirmed they were among those targeted by Beijing.
These were former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, ex-education minister Tim Loughton, House of Lords member Lord Alton of Liverpool and Scottish National Party MP Stewart McDonald. All four are members of the Inter Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC).
At a press conference following the meeting, the lawmakers demanded that the British government label China as a “threat”, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak opting to name it as an “epoch-defining challenge”.
“Most MPs are already clear that China is a threat, we don’t go around the tearooms talking to each other about, ‘My gosh, have you seen how challenging they are in an epoch sense?’ over a cup of tea. What we talk about is the threat,” Smith said.
They also demanded that China be added to an “enhanced tier” of the country’s foreign influence registration scheme.
Last March, an alleged spy working for China in the British Parliament was arrested on suspicion of violating the Official Secrets Act.
British media identified the man as Chris Cash, a researcher at the China Research Group and staffer for head of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Alicia Kearns. Cash denies the charges.