China Admitted Beijing Is Behind Cyberattacks on US Infrastructure, Biden Admin Kept It Quiet: Report

Members of the outgoing Biden administration learned in December that attacks on U.S. infrastructure that were blamed on a hacking group were instead the work of the Chinese government, according to a new report.

According to The Wall Street Journal, a Chinese official indirectly made the admission during a meeting in Geneva in December.

Biden administration officials did not disclose the admission. The Journal said its sources were for officials it did not name.

China tells outgoing Biden Team it was China hacking America in a Cyber Blitz against American Critical Infrastructure.

And Biden Team did what?

In secret meeting, China acknowledged role in U.S. infrastructure hacks https://t.co/5R1zL7koGD

— ColonelRETJohn2 (@ColonelRETJohn2) April 11, 2025

The Journal report said that during the December meeting, Wang Lei, a top cyber official with China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the hacks on American infrastructure were due to U.S. military support for Taiwan.

China claims that the self-governing island to which the Nationalist government fled in 1949 after the Communist revolution is rightfully its territory.

The Journal report said no direct admission was made, but the remark was perceived as a threat that more hacking could follow if the U.S. continues to support Taiwan or sides with it in a war.

🇨🇳🇺🇸 CHINA FINALLY ADMITS TARGETING US INFRASTRUCTURE IN SECRET GENEVA MEETING

Chinese officials shocked U.S. diplomats by tacitly acknowledging their massive “Volt Typhoon” hacking campaign against American ports, airports and utilities during a classified December summit.… https://t.co/foxgBQ5LEY pic.twitter.com/3YcyH9pG1n

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 11, 2025

The report said that at the time, “the Biden administration wanted to convey doubts that China’s political and military leadership, including President Xi Jinping, were fully aware of the activities of the hackers.”

Previously, the hacking campaign, called Volt Typhoon, was called the work of hackers aligned with China, not the work of the government itself.

The State Department said it has told China the U.S. will “take actions in response to Chinese malicious cyber activity,” calling the hacking “some of the gravest and most persistent threats to U.S. national security.”

The Chinese embassy issued a statement saying the U.S. was “using cybersecurity to smear and slander China” and making false statements about “so-called hacking threats.”

Dakota Cary, a China expert at the cybersecurity firm SentinelOne, suggested the comment was made to warn the Trump administration of what China could do should it flex its ability to meddle in America’s domestic infrastructure.

“China wants U.S. officials to know that, yes, they do have this capability, and they are willing to use it,” Cary said.

Protecting global navigation satellite systems from interference from China, Russia and Iran is a matter of extreme importance.@DFR_Economics https://t.co/6tat08s8mV

— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) April 11, 2025

“Chinese cyber threats are some of the gravest and most persistent threats to U.S. national security,” a State Department representative said, according to Fox News.

“The United States will continue to use all the tools at its disposal to safeguard U.S. critical infrastructure from irresponsible and reckless cyberattacks from Beijing. President Trump is committed to protecting the American people and U.S. critical infrastructure from these threats.”

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