China has accused the U.S. of stealing secrets and infiltrating the country’s national time centre, warning that serious breaches could have disrupted communication networks, financial systems, the power supply and the international standard time.
According to Reuters; in a statement posted on its official WeChat account, the Ministry of State Security of the People’s Republic of China said it discovered evidence tracing back to 2022 of data theft and credential misuse at the National Time Service Center (NTSC), a research arm of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that generates and broadcasts China’s standard time. The ministry said the National Security Agency (NSA) over “an extended period of time” infiltrated mobile devices and network systems of NTSC staff by exploiting a vulnerability in a smartphone messaging service, without naming the brand.
The Chinese agency said further attacks followed in 2023 and 2024, including attempts to target high-precision ground-based timing systems.
The U.S. Embassy in Beijing responded by pointing to China’s cyber-activities, saying Chinese actors have compromised major U.S. and global telecommunications networks and accusing Beijing of being “the most active and persistent cyber threat to U.S. government, private-sector, and critical infrastructure networks.”
The announcement comes amid rising trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, including U.S. threats to raise tariffs on Chinese goods and China’s expanded controls on rare earth exports.