On 26 March, Minister Yang Xiaoguang of the Chinese Embassy in the UK met with a senior official from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. During the meeting, Minister Yang deplored the UK's wrongful actions of groundlessly accusing China of conducting cyber attacks against the UK and imposing sanctions on Chinese individuals and a Chinese entity, and made further solemn representations.

Minister Yang stated that cybersecurity is a global challenge. China firmly opposes and fights all forms of cyber attacks and is also firmly against the politicisation of cybersecurity issues. The UK’s unwarranted accusation against China and the announcement of sanctions based on that is outright political manipulation and malicious slander. China has always been against illegal unilateral sanctions and will take necessary measures to resolutely protect its legitimate rights and interests.

Minister Yang emphasised that China has always upheld the principle of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs. China has neither the interest nor the need to meddle in the internal affairs of the UK. We strongly urge the UK to stop its smearing and unilateral sanctions against China, stop such self-staged, anti-China farces, and refrain from going further down the wrong path.