Anonymous ID: a9c1f2 April 6, 2019, 5:02 p.m. No.6077810   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7881 >>8354 >>8394

G-7 vows to defend against digital interference of China and Russia

 

Election meddling and cyber-theft flagged as common threat to democracies

 

DINARD, France – Foreign ministers from leading industrialized nations formed a united front against the rising threat of digital inference into democracies, with China and Russia in mind, but the top diplomat from U.S., the target of Moscow’s alleged election meddling, was conspicuously absent.

 

"We are determined to work collaboratively to reinforce our democracies against malign behavior and hostile interference by state and non-state actors," a joint statement by Group of Seven ministers issued Saturday noted. "Such efforts, undertaken through both traditional and digital means, seek to create chaos," it said.

 

The meeting was distinguished by a lack of top-level U.S. representation. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was not present at the meeting here, with deputy John Sullivan attending in his place.

 

The G-7 tacitly accused Beijing of state-sponsored hacking, urging China to "uphold its commitments not to engage in malicious cyber activity, including cyber-enabled intellectual property theft."

 

"We encourage China to participate responsibly in the free and open international rules-based system," the statement said.

 

The ministers issued a separate statement on cybersecurity, calling for the establishment of a "Cyber Norm Initiative" on sharing "best practices and lessons learned" regarding responsible state behavior. The plan is to set out a more detailed framework at the G-7 summit in August.

 

China and Russia have long been accused by the U.S. and other countries of committing cyber attacks. Worry over the attacks, and how to defend against them, has been exacerbated by the advent of superfast fifth-generation wireless.

 

Election meddling – directly through hacking and indirectly via the spread of fake news online – was of particular concern. The main joint statement singled out Moscow, accusing it of "interference in other countries' democratic systems."

 

"Interference in democratic processes from hostile states" is one of the top threats to democracy, U.K. Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt said before the meeting, adding that "we don't have a proper strategy to deter those attacks."

 

With cybersecurity likely a priority at the June Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono met one-on-one with counterparts including Hunt and France's Jean-Yves Le Drian to affirm cooperation in areas including e-commerce and data management.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/G-7-vows-to-defend-against-digital-interference-of-China-and-Russia