TOKYO: Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary MATSUNO Hirokazu on Tuesday denied any leak of confidential information from the Defense Ministry, whose networks have reportedly been breached by Chinese military hackers.

“We’ve confirmed no case of confidential information being leaked from the Defense Ministry due to a cyberattack,” the top government spokesperson told a press conference.

The Washington Post reported in its online edition Monday that the U.S. National Security Agency has found that hackers from the People’s Liberation Army of China breached the “most sensitive computer systems” of the Japanese ministry and informed Japanese government officials about it.

Matsuno declined to confirm whether the report is true or not, due to the nature of the case.

“We’ve always been communicating with the United States closely at various levels,” he said while refraining from providing details.

“There has been no case of our operations having been affected by a cyberattack,” Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told a separate press conference.

Asked about an impact on Japan’s relations with China, Matsuno said only, “We aim to communicate closely (with China) on all levels based on a policy of building constructive and stable relations.”

JIJI Press