The U.S. has scored another point in the ongoing battle against Chinese spying. A Chinese national accused in multiple hacking operations against the U.S. is now under felony indictment in Houston. Xu Zewei, 34, was arrested last July in Italy, but after months of legal wrangling was finally extradited to face charges in the Southern District of Texas. In all, he faces nine counts which could land him in federal prison for decades. Prosecutors say Zewei was connected to China's government intelligence service, known as the Ministry of State Security (MSS). He is also accused of being part of a Chinese hacking network called HAFNIUM, which targeted Microsoft email servers in the U.S.
Specifically, the government alleges Zewei and his associates hacked American medical researchers and specialists during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as they worked on vaccines and treatments. "This is important because COVID-19 was, of course, a worldwide emergency," says Gordon Chang, author and China expert. "And China, which spread this disease, was trying, I think, to prevent the world from developing effective measures against it."
"We're going to have to learn a lot more about what China's goals were here, but from all indications, none of this was good," he continues.
The HAFNIUM hackings were even more widespread, impacting more than 12,700 U.S. businesses, governments and organizations according to the FBI.
This case is just the latest example of Chinese spying in the U.S. Last year, China was linked to the hacking of the Congressional Budget Office. And China has used various means to infiltrate American colleges and universities.
President Trump is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping next month, and the topic of spying is likely to come up. But Chang believes we are beyond that now. "I think the United States should stop talking to China about hacking...we've been talking to them for decades," he tells KTRH. "It is now time to just impose costs...impose costs that are so high China has to stop."
"We can't talk China out of this. We need to impose those costs."
Photo: AFP