On July 19th, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of National Defence, and the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness of Canada issued a joint statement, claiming that "Microsoft disclosed vulnerabilities in its exchange servers that were exploited by People's Republic of China's (PRC) state-backed actors", "this cyber activity was intended to gain access to networks worldwide for the theft of intellectual property and to acquire vast quantities of personally identifiable information", etc. The above-mentioned accusation by Canadian side is totally groundless, and a malicious smear on China. The Chinese side expresses its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to it, and has lodged solemn representations with the Canadian side.

Chinese government's position on cyber security issue is consistent and clear. As a staunch defender of cyber security, we firmly oppose and combat cyber attacks in all forms according to law. In response to prominent data security risks, China proposed the Global Initiative on Data Security last year, to uphold data and supply chain security and advance digital economy, which is actively responded to by a growing number of countries. China is ready to enhance cooperation and communication with all sides to reach and abide by global rules that reflect the will and respect the interests of all countries, prevent all practices that use one's technological edge to undermine other countries' security, and work with others to jointly safeguard global data security.

It needs to be pointed out that the US government and relevant departments, in violation of international law and basic norms governing international relations, have been engaging in large-scale, organized and indiscriminate cyber stealing, spying and surveillance activities on foreign governments, enterprises and individuals including those of its allies. The US is really the top empire of hackers in this world. This is not a secret to anyone. China is also a victim of this. It's proved by the fact that on the issue of cyber security, the US and some other western countries, with their poor records, are in no position to point fingers at other countries.

We urge the Canadian side to reject the Cold-War mentality and ideological bias, adopt a professional and responsible attitude when identifying cyber-related incidents, stop politicizing the issue of cyber security, and stop making groundless attack and deliberately slander against China.