March 26, 2024
The Coalition is pressing the federal government to hit China with sanctions after Australia joined with the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand to accuse Beijing of orchestrating a sweeping campaign of cyber espionage targeting voters, parliamentarians and companies in the West.
The UK and the US have already unveiled sanctions on state-backed hackers they accuse of being behind "malicious" cyber attacks which hit Britain's electoral commission and British MPs critical of China, as well as a host of companies, individuals and politicians in the US.
And on Tuesday morning New Zealand's Defence Minister Judith Collins announced that in 2021 hackers from a group linked to China's Ministry of State Security also managed to gain access to the country's Parliamentary Service, as well as the Parliamentary Counsel Office.
The Parliamentary Service provides administrative and support services to New Zealand's MPs, while the Counsel Office is responsible for drafting and publishing legislation.
"Fortunately, in this instance, the National Cyber Security Centre worked with the impacted organisations to contain the activity and remove the actor shortly after they were able to access the network," she said.
The minister later told reporters that New Zealand's institutions were "sacrosanct" and there was clearly a "pattern of behaviour" from China targeting democracies.
"We believe it is important that we stand together on these matters," she said.
"This is the first very serious attack that I am aware of against one of our democratic institutions."
But she said New Zealand would not follow the lead of the US or the UK and target hackers because the country did not have a broader legal framework to impose autonomous sanctions.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil issued a joint statement first thing on Tuesday morning backing statements holding China responsible.
"The persistent targeting of democratic institutions and processes has implications for democratic and open societies like Australia. This behaviour is unacceptable and must stop," they said.
Australia has previously attributed multiple cyber attacks in Australia to China. The ministers did not say if Australia was directly targeted in the more recent hacking attempts but said: "Australia's electoral systems were not compromised by the cyber campaigns targeting the UK."
Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson said while the public attribution of blame was welcome, the government needed to go "one step further" and hit Chinese state-backed hackers with Magnitsky-style sanctions.
"It is especially malign behaviour to attack members of parliament and electoral systems … it is not the behaviour of a friend," he said.
"It'll be up to the government to explain if it thinks the bilateral relationship [with China] is more important than defending our national security interests."
China has denied the accusations of espionage, with New Zealand's embassy in Wellington calling them "groundless and irresponsible" in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon.
"When investigating and determining the nature of cyber cases, one needs to have adequate and objective evidence, instead of smearing other countries when facts do not exist," it said.
"Accusing China of foreign interference is completely barking up the wrong tree."
"We hope the New Zealand side can practice the letter and spirit of its longstanding and proud independent foreign policy, independently making judgments and decisions in its best interests rather than blindly following other's words and actions."
