EU’s von der Leyen: China targeted hospitals, health care institutions with cyber-attacks – Politico

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen alleged China, as per Politico, for cyber-attacks in the bloc’s hospitals and health care institutions.

Key quotes

‘We’ve seen attacks … on computer systems, on hospitals, and we know the origin of the cyberattacks,’ von der Leyen said after a videoconference with China’s President Xi Jinping. ‘We put together the facts and the figures necessary to know.’

We pointed out clearly that this cannot be tolerated.

The remarks from the EU’s top official come after the bloc earlier this month published a report on disinformation linked to the pandemic that slammed Beijing for targeting Europe with false and distorting narratives.

Von der Leyen’s criticism came in the wake of a videoconference in which the EU’s leaders discussed trade, human rights and other issues with Xi.

FX implications

Considering the market’s present attention over the US-China trade relations, the news from the region fails to offer any entertainment to the traders. However, this should weigh on the risk-tone sentiment as signals increased hardships for the world’s largest industrial player.