'Anonymous' hacks China govt website; welcomes US Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan

Cyber hacking group 'Anonymous' hacked a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) website on August 3 and welcomed US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. According to reports, the website of the "Heilongjiang Society Scientific Community Federation" in China was hacked by 'Anonymous'. After hacking the website, the group posted an HTML page with the text "Taiwan Numbah Wan," the Taiwanese flag and emblem, and images of Pelosi and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. It also wrote, "Taiwan welcomes US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi," Taiwan News reported. 

This comes amid Pelosi's one-day visit to the self-ruled island, which has been severely condemned by the Chinese government. According to reports, the hacked website showed the 'Anonymous' group logo followed by the "Taiwan Numbah Wan" meme. This was a reference to a statement made in 2015 by video game streamer AngryPug to rile up Chinese streamer "Em0" during a match of the game H1Z1. The website further showed the national flag and national emblem of Taiwan, followed by the welcoming note for Pelosi. However, the website was later taken down by the Chinese authority. 

'Anonymous' hacked Chinese government website in May too

Notably, the hacking group had also breached a Chinese government website in May, warning Beijing not to attempt "anything stupid against Taiwan." 'Anonymous' claimed to hack the website of the ‘Chengdu Pidu District Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference' on May 2. The group then claimed to be taking a "short break" from its cyberattacks on Russia in order to remind China to not try anything crazy against Taiwan. Apart from this, on April 3, the hacking group 'Anonymous' claimed credit for exposing the personal information of 1,20,000 Russian servicemen fighting in Ukraine.

US House Speaker Pelosi concludes Taiwan visit

It should be mentioned here that the US House Speaker concluded her one-day visit to Taiwan on Wednesday. However, the visit was strongly denounced by the Chinese government, which also summoned the US ambassador over Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry also issued a statement, terming the visit as "Washington's intrusion of Beijing's sovereignty.  Meanwhile, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen expressed her commitment to maintaining the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and emphasised that her country has been open to a constructive dialogue.

Image: AP/Pixabay