The embassy of China in Uganda has labeled fake and “totally groundless”, a report by Wall Street Journal (WSJ) claiming that the government of China, and China-based telecom giants Huawei technologies Ltd, helped the Uganda government to hack into conversations by Presidential hopeful Bobi Wine.
According to the WSJ, Uganda Police sent senior officers to China capital Beijing, accompanied by Huawei Africa-based employees and a senior Chinese embassy official, Chu Maoming.
The report also adds that this group was chaperoned by Maoming and taken to Huawei company headquarters in Shenzen where they got details on the surveillance systems built by Huawei across the world.
“The journalists gave such a vivid account as if they were with Mr. Chun then. However, the embassy has to point out that this is utterly untrue. As a matter of fact, Mr. Chun Maoming had stayed in Uganda for the whole of 2017, during which time he never got back to China,” the statement from China embassy in Uganda reads in part.
“Such being that, the embassy has to seriously doubt the credibility and reliability of the whole article, as well as he professionalism and the basic qualifications of the journalists, who are serving such a big media house as Wall Street Journal, for their ulterior motives behind the scenes,” the statement continues.
The Embassy has taken notice of an article from the Wall Street Journal on 14 August, 2019, entitled "Huawei Technicians Helped African Governments Spy on Political Opponents". The Embassy finds the article PURE FAKE NEWS and TOTALLY GROUNDLESS! @UgandaMediaCent@PoliceUg@WSJ pic.twitter.com/AmsT3OPIRy
— Chinese Embassy in Uganda (@ChineseEmb_Uga) August 14, 2019
The statement follows that of Presidential Press Secretary Don Wanyama, who claimed the report from WSJ was totally hogwash.
“This WSJ story on Huawei helping governments hack into opposition phones is total hogwash. There’s no evidence. This is a continuation of the US-China trade war; a new frontier being opened in Africa. You don’t need to hack a phone to know that the Busabala concerts were political,” Wanyama said in a tweet.
https://nilepost.co.ug/2019/08/15/wsj-reports-huawei-helped-uganda-government-to-hack-bobi-wines-whatsapp-skype-conversations/