Still not convinced China is interested in extending its fingers into the African pot?

Well, my friend, you might think otherwise after reading this fine story from one of Africa’s most proud countries, Ethiopia.

As per a recent investigation by French newspaper Le Monde, China’s gift to the African Union – their $200 million headquarters building in Addis Ababa where representatives from 55 African countries meet to discuss, you know, African things – was bugged for five years.

In January last year, AU staff discovered strange server activity between midnight and 2AM, reports Gizmodo.

Subsequent investigation and sweeps of the building found that – wait for it – Chinese engineers “left backdoors in computer servers allowing access to all sensitive content, as well as left recording devices in desks and walls”.

Meaning? Well, the newspaper alleges that “the use of the building may have allowed the Chinese government access to pretty much everything the AU was doing from January 2012 to January 2017”.

Naughty, naughty:

Sources told Le Monde that it can be an uphill battle to get government officials there to take cybersecurity seriously and the AU remains “very exposed” to both Chinese espionage as well as the intelligence services of many other interested powers.

However, Kuang Weilin, Chinese ambassador to the AU, told reporters in Ethiopia the idea they had bugged the embassy was “absurd” and “very difficult to understand”:

Weilin said that the report was inaccurate and “I really question its intention. I think it will undermine and send a very negative message to people. I think it is not good for the image of the newspaper itself … Certainly, it will create problems for China-Africa relations.”

It certainly will – however, not everyone wants to be convinced:

According to Reuters, regional leaders like Rwandan President Paul Kagame have also denied the reports and insisted that nothing is done in the AU building that is particularly secretive anyhow.

“I don’t think spying is the specialty of the Chinese,” Kagame said. “We have spies all over the place in this world. But I will not have been worried about being spied on in this building.”

Is that the truth, or is Kagame protecting his relationship with China so the empire can continue to develop in his landlocked, natural-resource lacking country? You can read about that fruitful relationship here.

These are the questions you have got to ask, man.

*Punches another cone*

[source:gizmodo]