US’s Raimondo says raised alleged hacking of her email with Chinese officials

SHANGHAI: US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Wednesday that she had raised the alleged hacking of her email by China-based actors with Beijing officials, as she wrapped up a visit to the world’s second-largest economy.

“I did mention that my own emails had been hacked,” Raimondo told a digital press briefing after days of talks with Chinese officials in Beijing and Shanghai.

She said she had raised the hacking “as an example of an action that erodes trust at a time when we are trying to stabilise the relationship”.

In China, Raimondo says US will prioritise national security, does not seek decoupling

Tech giant Microsoft said last month that the China-based hacking group Storm-0558 had breached email accounts at approximately 25 organisations and government agencies in a bid to obtain intelligence information.

The Washington Post reported that accounts belonging to the State Department and to Raimondo were among those hacked.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned China’s top diplomat Wang Yi that Washington would hold hackers accountable, though a US official stopped short of saying whether he was directly accusing China of involvement.

Raimondo completed a visit to China on Wednesday, saying she had held “productive” talks which touched on “tough issues”.