Western Powers Issue Statements On MS Hack-China In Cross-Sights

A number of Western powers have issues statements of varying strength condemning Chinese actors for a hack on Microsoft Exchange email server software earlier in 2021.

• The Biden administration has not issued an official statement yet, but comments from an unnamed White House official have hit wires and social media stating that the US gov't has high confidence that the Chinese gov't to be behind the hack, and that it hoped a multination condemnation of the actions would lead to a change in policy from Beijing.
• UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab stated that the actions allegedly carried out under the direction of the Chinese gov't represent a "reckless but familiar pattern of behaviour", and that "Widespread, credible evidence demonstrates that sustained, irresponsible cyber activity emanating from China continues", with the Foreign Office tweeting, "Today the UK & our allies are holding the Chinese state responsible for significant & widespread cyber intrusions, including attacks on the Microsoft Exchange servers. The Chinese state must end these reckless acts."
• TheEU statement was more cautious in its tone - as is often the case when interacting with Beijing - stating that "the EU and its Member States, together with partners, expose malicious cyber activities that significantly affected our economy, security, democracy and society at large. The EU and its Member States assess these malicious cyber activities to have been undertaken from the territory of China." The statement does not lay the blame for the attacks at the feet of the Chinese gov't, but says that Beijing must do more to stop attacks of this nature from within its territory.
• The unnamed White House official also stated that the US expects statements of condemnation towards China from Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand as well as those from the EU and UK.