European Union hits Chinese ‘hackers’ with sanctions, along with alleged cyber-spies from Russia and North Korea

Penalties against six people and three entities accused of cyber espionage include travel bans and asset freezes

EU says Gao Qiang and Zhang Shilong are members of APT10, hackers that went after multinational companies for commercially sensitive information

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In response to EU sanctions against two accused hackers from China, a Chinese delegation in Brussels says China is a staunch defender of cybersecurity, and itself a serious victim of digital attacks. Illustration: Reuters

Published: 10:30pm, 31 Jul 2020Updated: 4:26am, 1 Aug 2020

The European Union imposed its first-ever sanctions for alleged cyber espionage against six individuals and three entities from China, Russia and North Korea that were believed responsible for, or involved in, three large cyberattacks in the past decade.

The sanctions, announced on Thursday, “are one of the options available in the EU’s cyber diplomacy toolbox to prevent, deter and respond to malicious cyber activities directed against the EU or its member states, and today is the first time the EU used this tool,” the EU said in a statement.

The sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes, and EU people and entities are banned from making funds available to those on the blacklist, according to the EU statement.

The move came at the time when Beijing had stepped up engagement with Brussels, seeking closer cooperation on the economy and military to prevent the bloc from siding with the United States.

Han Zheng and Liu He, two members of China’s Politburo, separately held talks with European Commission vice-presidents this week to push ahead with cooperation on their economic agenda and bilateral investment treaty talks.

Since last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has held phone discussions with his counterparts in Germany, France and Italy, reassuring them of China's support for the European Union and calling for the bloc and the member states to remain independent foreign relations and to counter the US’ hefty campaign for an international alliance to play tough on China.

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