Q: On November 7th, Chief Technology Officer of the US Michael Kratsios made a speech at the 2019 Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal. He said that Chinese influence and control of technology would undermine the freedoms of all citizens of the world, and quoted the report by Le Monde that Chinese government had transferred data from the African Union headquarters to China for five years using Huawei communications technology equipment. Do you have any comment?
A: The so-called accusations of China bugging the AU headquarters were totally fake news fabricated by some Western media with ulterior motives, which have already been robustly refuted long ago by several leaders of the AU Commission and African countries. After nearly two years, Mr. Kratsios played up the nonsense report again and made wrong claims full of ideological bias and in disregard of the facts in a bid to hype up so-call threats from Chinese technology, sabotage China-Africa relationship and smear China-Africa friendship. We express strong dissatisfaction to that and absolutely cannot accept.
As the US fabricates the threat posed by Chinese technology and spreads rumor about fake news of China’s bugging activities, it has never provided any evidence. In contrast, it has long been an open secret that relevant departments in the US have been engaging in large-scale and organized cyber stealing, spying and surveillance activities on foreign governments, enterprises and individuals. The US side making unwarranted criticisms of China and Africa is blaming others while oneself is to be blamed, and this is self-deception.
China and Africa are good friends, partners and brothers. Our cooperation is always engaging in the just cause and walking on the right way. China and Africa will continue to share mutual respect, treat each other equally, and work together towards an even stronger China-Africa community with a shared future. As the symbol and model of China-Africa friendship and cooperation, the AU headquarters will stand forever. Any attempt to vilify and undermine China-Africa cooperation will not weaken our resolve to strengthen collaboration and will not stop us from working together for development.