Chinese hackers allegedly stole Mekong data from Cambodian foreign ministry

According to a report form the ever reliable James Pearson of Reuters four Chinese nationals – three security officials and a contract hacker – have been charged in the United States with attacks aimed at dozens of companies, universities and government agencies in the United States and abroad, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday.

Part of the hack according to the report was the Cambodia’s foreign ministry, and discussions between China and Cambodia over the use of the Mekong River, serious bone of contention who it comes to the battle for influence in the region from China and the US.

Chinese hackers allegedly stole Mekong Data – The Chinese response

The Chinese have said the allegations are politically motivated and indeed fabricated, while the indictment states the espionage was carried out from

by front company run by Chinese state security in Hainan, a Chinese island more famous for holidays than Bondesque espionage.

What’s the Cambodia link?

According to the indictment among the target of the hackers was “Cambdoian Ministry A”, which Reuters claim via sources to be the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and related to discussions between China and Cambodia over the use of the Mekong River in 2018.

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Despite being contacted China has not replied to the accusations and has put out denials through various channels about the affair.

Did China hack Cambodia and does it matter?

Countries hack countries all of the time, including their allies. Recently the US and the Danish were caught up in a scandal whereby they had cooperated in spying on Germany, seemingly blissfully unaware that Hitler was now gone and we were now friends.

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The issue is much less about Khmer-Chinese relations and more about the US trying to exert power by pushing friends against friends.Just last week  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Southeast Asian foreign ministers the United States supported a “free and open Mekong region” under the Washington-backed Mekong-U.S. Partnership.

Chinese hackers stoleMekong data from Cambodia? Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t, but the content here is more Cold War 2.0 than the US trying to look out for the interests of Cambodia. One merely has to look at how many vaccines they have given compared to China to see that.

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