2018 China–African Union espionage allegations

In January 2017, French newspaper Le Monde Afrique published a story alleging that the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa was being spied on by the Chinese government.[1] The surveillance was believed to have begun in 2012, when the headquarters of the African Union was opened, and was conducted via bugging equipment and digital backdoors installed in the building's electronics during construction.[2][3]

Upon discovery, both the equipment manufacturer Huawei and the Chinese government denied the allegations.[4] The African Union also publicly denied that such an incident had occurred, although one African Union official later stated that there were "many issues with the building that are still being resolved with the Chinese. It's not just cyber security."[5][6][7]

Background
The AU Conference Centre and Office Complex, pictured in 2015

On November 5, 2006, during the 2006 Forum on China–Africa Cooperation in Beijing, the Chinese government announced the funding of a new building to house the headquarters of the African Union, the AU Conference Center and Office Complex.[8] The entire project, estimated to have cost US$200 million, was entirely funded by China. Construction began in 2009, and was carried out by both Chinese and African workers. The complex was completed and opened in 2012.[2]

China's funding of the African Union headquarters was part of a larger project to invest in African development, which also included the establishment of a China-Africa Development Fund, US$3 billion in loans for debt relief and development, and US$2 billion in export buyer's credit.[9][10]

Allegations

According to Le Monde Afrique, in January 2017, the African Union's IT department noticed that their server traffic was unusually full between midnight and 2 a.m. local time, when few people were working.[1] Upon further investigation, the department discovered that data was being collected and transferred to servers in Shanghai, and that this had been occurring since 2012. Microphones and listening devices were also subsequently found to have been planted throughout the building.[3]

The African Union replaced its server and communications technology – previously supplied by Chinese conglomerate Huawei – with its own, allegedly refusing a Chinese government offer to configure the new equipment.[11][12] The AU stopped using ethio telecom, and the encryption of communications was strengthened.[1][12] The new security system was tested during the July 2017 AU summit, with Algerian and Ethiopian cybersecurity experts inspecting the building.[1]

Le Monde Afrique article and reactions

Le Monde article

On January 28, 2018, Le Monde Afrique published an article publicly revealing the incident. The allegations levied by AU officials in the article received coverage from multiple other news organizations, and led to an official statement by China's foreign affairs ministry. Spokespeople for the African Union declined to comment.[5]

Reactions

After publication, African Union and Chinese officials denied the allegations, including the head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki.[4][13] In February 2018, Faki described the allegations as "all lies" and stated that "no maneuvers could distract and divert us from our mission" of strengthening ties between the AU and China.[14]: 323  Rwandan President and then-chairman of the AU, Paul Kagame, stated that he was not worried by the discovery, but expressed regret for the African Union not self-funding its headquarters, and instead relying on the Chinese government.[15] An unnamed African Union official told the Financial Times that there were "many issues with the building that are still being resolved with the Chinese", and one African diplomat attending an AU conference was later quoted in the publication as stating that there "would be a lot of anger over [the situation]".[5]

The Chinese ambassador to the African Union, Kuang Weilin, called the allegations "absurd" and "preposterous" and claimed they were intended to put pressure on Sino-African relations.[16][17] China's ministry of foreign affairs also issued a statement, labelling the allegations "baseless" and "complete nonsense".[18]

In June 2019, the African Union Commission and Huawei signed a memorandum of understanding to further increase IT cooperation in areas include broadband, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, 5G, AI, and the training of African IT personnel.[14]: 323  Huawei's vice president for North Africa, Philippe Wang, stated that the agreement demonstrated AU's continuing trust in Huawei.[14]: 323  Wang stated that the agreement should end rumors of data leakage and that "AU has totally audited their IT system for the whole organization and nothing corroborates what was said in media reports one year ago."[14]: 323–324 

In 2020, Japan's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) reported that a suspected Chinese hacking organization dubbed "Bronze President" had hacked and extracted footage from the AU Headquarters' security cameras.[19]

See also

References
  1. Kadiri, Ghalia; Tilouine, Joan (January 26, 2018). "A Addis-Abeba, le siège de l'Union africaine espionné par Pékin" [In Addis Ababa, the headquarters of the African Union are being spied on by Beijing]. Le Monde Afrique. Archived from the original on February 4, 2018. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
  2. "African Union opens Chinese-funded HQ in Ethiopia". BBC News. January 28, 2012. Archived from the original on June 4, 2022. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
  3. Vaswani, Karishma (March 6, 2019). "Huawei: The story of a controversial company". BBC News. Archived from the original on January 28, 2020. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
  4. Maasho, Aaron (January 29, 2018). "China denies report it hacked African Union headquarters". Reuters. Archived from the original on October 28, 2021. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  5. Aglionby, John; Feng, Emily; Yang, Yuan (January 29, 2018). "African Union accuses China of hacking headquarters". Financial Times. Archived from the original on January 30, 2018. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
  6. "China uses Huawei cameras to spy on African Union headquarters - The Economic Times". m.economictimes.com. Archived from the original on May 23, 2023. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  7. "China's spies are not always as good as advertised". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on May 23, 2023. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  8. White, David (November 20, 2006). "THE CHINA FACTOR: A spectacular resurgence". Financial Times. Archived from the original on October 28, 2021. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
  9. "FORUM ON CHINA-AFRICA COOPERATION BEIJING ACTION PLAN (2007–2009)". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. November 16, 2006. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
  10. "The Company Overview". China-Africa Development Fund. Archived from the original on November 14, 2013.
  11. Akwei, Ismail (February 28, 2018). "China caught "spying" on the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa". Face2Face Africa. Archived from the original on February 20, 2022. Retrieved February 20, 2022.
  12. Sherman, Justin (May 28, 2019). "What's the Deal with Huawei and This African Union Headquarters Hack?". New America. Archived from the original on May 29, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  13. Blanchard, Ben (February 8, 2018). "African Union says has no secret dossiers after China spying report". Reuters. Archived from the original on September 10, 2018. Retrieved February 20, 2022.
  14. Shinn, David H.; Eisenman, Joshua (2023). China's Relations with Africa: a New Era of Strategic Engagement. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-21001-0.
  15. de la Croix Tabaro, Jean (January 30, 2018). "Kagame Gives African Stand On "China Spying AU" Suspicions". KT Press. Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  16. "China dismisses "absurd" African Union HQ spying claim". BBC News. January 29, 2018. Archived from the original on January 28, 2022. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  17. Latif Dahir, Abdi (January 30, 2018). "China "gifted" the African Union a headquarters building and then allegedly bugged it for state secrets". Quartz. Archived from the original on February 8, 2021. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  18. Fitsanakis, Joseph (January 30, 2018). "China hacked African Union computer servers for five years, report claims". Intel News. Archived from the original on September 27, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  19. Satter, Raphael (December 16, 2020). "Suspected Chinese hackers stole camera footage from African Union - memo". Reuters. Archived from the original on December 19, 2020.
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