German Foreign Ministry Summons China's Ambassador for the First Time in 35 Years because of Cyberattack

The German Foreign Ministry has summoned the Chinese ambassador to Berlin in connection with the 2021 cyberattack on the mapping agency, which was carried out by Chinese state actors.

This was reported by Deutsche Welle and Spiegel.

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer said that Berlin ‘strongly opposes cyber activities directed against Germany’.

He added that ‘the danger posed by Chinese espionage and Chinese cyberattacks’ cannot be underestimated.

The 2021 cyberattack targeted the Federal Office of Cartography and Geodesy (BKG) in Frankfurt am Main. The agency analyses satellite and geographic data and produces maps, including for intelligence services.

According to Spiegel, the cyberattack was carried out by the Chinese hacker group APT15. The attempted intervention was known in advance, but despite the precautions taken, the attackers managed to penetrate the BKG network.

According to DW, this is the first time that the Chinese ambassador to Germany has been summoned since 1989, when the Chinese authorities dispersed student protests in Tiananmen Square.

In recent years, several governments, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, have accused China of carrying out cyberattacks on government data and private company data.

Belgium summoned China's chargé d'affaires in April after it was confirmed that a member of the Belgian parliament had been cyberattacked by Chinese hackers.