China issues bounty for hackers it says are linked to Taiwan

BEIJING: The public security bureau in the Chinese city of Guangzhou has put up an undisclosed bounty for more than 20 people it suspects carried out cyber attacks in China, the official news agency Xinhua said on Thursday (Jun 5), stepping up accusations against Taipei.

The authorities said the hackers were linked to the Taiwan government and named one of them as Ning Enwei. There was no information on the size of the bounty in Chinese state media.

Chinese authorities accused Taiwan of organising, planning and premeditating attacks on key sectors such as military, aerospace, government departments, energy and transportation, maritime affairs, science and technology research firms in China as well as in special administration regions Hong Kong and Macau, Xinhua said.

Xinhua, citing a cybersecurity report, said the Taiwan “information, communication and digital army” has cooperated with US anti-Chinese forces to conduct public opinion and cognitive warfare against China, secretly instigate revolution and attempt to disrupt public order in China.

Taiwan’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A senior Taiwan security official told Reuters that the Chinese allegations were invented, saying Beijing was trying to shift the focus from Czech and European scrutiny over alleged Chinese hacking activities there.

“They fabricated a false narrative to shift the focus. It’s a very typical behaviour by the Chinese Communist Party,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter.

“No amount of storytelling can change the fact that Beijing is not only a regional trouble maker, but also a common international threat to the online world.”