China denies hacking phone of PH envoy to US
Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez on Monday maintained that phone hacking in the United States, allegedly carried out by Chinese hackers, is a known issue—one that even targeted him, according to his intelligence sources.
Speaking in a forum at the American University School of International Service in Washington last week, Romualdez said he had to replace his phone four or five times after being targeted by the Chinese.
“I’m not saying that I’m the main victim, but I am one of those targeted. I had to change my phone about four or five times already,” Manila’s envoy said, adding that he had raised the issue with Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian during a meeting.
“I even told the Chinese ambassador in the Philippines, please stop going through my telephone because I can’t afford to keep on buying a phone,” Romualdez said.
The Chinese embassy in Manila, however, denied his statement.
“With regard to the report of Ambassador Romualdez saying he talked to Ambassador Huang about the so-called Chinese hacking his phone, I verified the story with Ambassador Huang. He was surprised by such a story since he hasn’t met Ambassador Romualdez for a long time,” a Chinese embassy official told reporters in a Viber message on Monday.
“The two ambassadors [have] never touched upon the so-called Chinese hacking issue, and Ambassador Huang doesn’t know where Ambassador Romualdez got this story from,” the embassy official added.
Said in jest
Asked for comment, Romualdez told the Inquirer that his statement during the forum was made “in jest” but maintained that Chinese hackers had indeed targeted him.
“It was all said in jest … everyone knows cell phones have been extensively hacked in the United States by Chinese hackers. Our US intelligence friends tell me I’m one of their targets,” he said in a Viber message.
Earlier this month, the US Department of Justice said it had deleted a malware known as “PlugX,” that was planted in more than 4,200 computers by a group of criminal hackers backed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
“According to court documents, the PRC government paid the Mustang Panda group to, among other computer intrusion services, develop this specific version of PlugX,” the US justice department said.
It noted that since 2014, the hackers had infiltrated thousands of computer systems, targeting US victims, as well as European and Asian governments, businesses and Chinese dissident groups.
