President Xi pushes for tighter cybersecurity measures. (Photo : Getty Images)
The leadership of China's government is calling for domestic firms to speed up ways to tighten Internet and information system technologies. President Xi Jinping released a statement on Sunday.
May foreign businesses expressed concern as the statement might indicate preferential treatment over Chinese firms which are poised to develop the country's IT sector.
President Xi said, "[China] must accelerate the advancement of domestic production, indigenous and controllable substitution plans, and the building of secure and controllable information technology systems."
The president made it clear that the foreign businesses have nothing to fear because the country must face increasing threats from cyber terrorists and hackers.
Xi added, "Although China's Internet technology and network security guarantees have made big achievements, there is still a huge gap compared with advanced levels around the world."
China's cybersecurity policies have been put in question by China's international partners in trade. Internet Plus and Made in China 2025 are government programs that seek to advance the country's information technology sector.
One international trade partner is Australia. A research group, Four Corners, released a report about hackers from China who are trying to infiltrate the network of the Australian government.
Alastair MacGibbon, the Australian Prime Minister's cybersecurity adviser, said that the Australian Government was "attacked on a daily basis".
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Australia denied that China had conducted any cyber espionage against Australia. He said that the allegations are "totally groundless" and "false cliches."
"Like other countries, China suffers from serious cyberattacks and is one of the major victims of hacking attacks in the world," he said.
However, Australian telecommunication company Newsat was not convinced.
"Given we were up against China, state-sponsored, a lot of money behind them and a lot of resources and we were only a very small IT team, it certainly wasn't a fair fight for us," Newsat's former IT manager Daryl Peter said.
