China says NSA hacked National Time Center in major cyberattack

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
19 Oct 2025 20:18
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China's Ministry of State Security accused the NSA of orchestrating a long-planned cyberattack on the National Time Service Center.

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An elderly woman stands near Chinese national flags hung for the national day holidays during the mid-autumn festival in Beijing, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) announced Sunday that it had exposed a major cyber-espionage operation carried out by the US National Security Agency (NSA) against the country's National Time Service Center (NTSC), warning that the attack could have jeopardized core infrastructure supporting communications, finance, and energy systems.

"Recently, state security authorities uncovered a case of a major US cyberattack and obtained irrefutable evidence that the US National Security Agency infiltrated China's National Time Service Center," the ministry said in an official statement.
According to the MSS, the NSA exploited a vulnerability in a foreign-made mobile phone brand to infiltrate the devices of NTSC staff as early as March 2022, later using the stolen data to hack the center's internal networks between April 2023 and June 2024. The ministry said the attacks were "long-planned and systematic," involving 42 specialized tools and coordinated nighttime operations routed through servers across several continents to conceal their origin.

"This could cause international chaos in the time system, and the damage and losses from this are impossible to estimate," the ministry warned, noting that the NTSC plays a vital role in maintaining Beijing Time and synchronizing global systems tied to telecommunications, transport, and defense.

Strategy of Pressure

Analysts in Beijing view the cyberattacks as part of Washington’s broader campaign to contain China’s technological ascent, coinciding with a renewed wave of US economic and trade pressure. In recent months, Washington has tightened export controls on advanced semiconductors and imposed additional barriers on Chinese investments in sectors such as artificial intelligence, aerospace, and quantum research.

US officials have repeatedly expressed the need to "de-risk" supply chains and reduce dependence on China, warning that Beijing’s reliability as a global partner is at stake. While not openly threatening investment withdrawal, Washington has signaled that American capital and sourcing could be redirected if China does not open its markets further and ensure stable access to critical raw materials, particularly rare earths and battery minerals essential to Western industries.

This has reinforced perceptions in Beijing that the United States is using financial and trade levers as tools of coercion under the banner of economic security. In response, China has introduced export controls on key strategic minerals such as gallium, germanium, and graphite, describing these measures as necessary steps to safeguard national interests and strengthen supply-chain sovereignty.

Digital Hegemony, Economic Coercion

The MSS accused the United States of pursuing "hegemonic dominance in cyberspace," stating that the NSA and allied intelligence agencies have "acted recklessly and continuously carried out cyberattacks targeting China, Southeast Asia, Europe, and South America."

The timing of the latest revelations reflects a broader geopolitical message: the cyber domain has become another front in Washington's pressure campaign, combining digital intrusion, trade sanctions, and investment threats to undermine China's autonomy in technology and resource governance.

The disclosure also comes just weeks before President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping are set to meet at the APEC summit in South Korea, talks now expected to unfold under heightened tension over technology, security, and sovereignty.