The Treasury Department was hacked by China in a year marked by CCP espionage, and top Republicans are demanding accountability.

The Treasury Department was hacked by China, according to the Biden administration, resulting in the theft of unclassified documents and access to government employees' workstations.

It's time to take action against adversarial espionage, as the past year has seen numerous hacking incidents targeting government agencies in China.

The CCP's aggressive intrusions into our homeland and networks have been ongoing for too long, and the latest intrusion should not be a surprise, according to Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., chairman of the House China Select Committee, who made this statement to Planet Chronicle Digital.

"The CCP should be deterred from its actions by imposing escalating costs on Congress and the incoming Trump administration."

The Treasury holds confidential information about the world's financial systems, including estimates about China's struggling economy. Additionally, it imposes sanctions on Chinese companies and those supporting Russia in the conflict in Ukraine. However, the motives of the hackers who targeted the Treasury remain unclear.

According to China expert Gordon Chang, while the Treasury claims that the Chinese only received unclassified documents in the hack, the breach sends ripples of concern not only across the U.S. but globally. Countries that rely on the stability of the American financial markets must question their ability to do so.

On Dec. 8, a service provider informed the Treasury of the breach, resulting in all affected systems being taken offline. China rejected the accusation that it was responsible for the act, stating that it consistently opposes all forms of hacking.

Although China denied it, the Treasury maintained that a Chinese state-sponsored actor was responsible for the attack. Chang proposed that Xi may have intentionally allowed the attack to occur in order to send a message to the world.

"The possibility that the Chinese intentionally wanted to be caught cannot be ruled out, as they aimed to create uncertainty globally and demonstrate the vulnerability of the United States. They wanted to showcase the weaknesses of American networks and their control over them."

According to Chang, the recent hacking attempt suggests that President-elect Donald Trump's efforts to smooth over relations with China might be futile, despite an invitation to President Xi Jinping for his inauguration just weeks ago.

For decades, American presidents have attempted to make preemptive concessions to China in the hopes of achieving benefits, but these efforts have been unsuccessful because the Chinese do not reciprocate them.

This year, Chinese intelligence intercepted Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo's communications while she was making decisions about new export controls on semiconductors and other key technology. The same hacking group also targeted officials at the State Department and members of Congress.

The Treasury hack coincides with the Biden administration's efforts to address one of China's most significant attacks on American infrastructure, known as Salt Typhoon.

Nine major American telecommunications companies were infiltrated by a Chinese intelligence group, granting them access to the private messages and phone calls of American citizens, including high-ranking government officials and prominent political figures.

The hackers who stole data from Salt Typhoon also obtained a comprehensive list of phone numbers that the Justice Department had been monitoring for espionage purposes, allowing them to determine which Chinese spies the U.S. had successfully identified and which they had missed.

The recurring cyberattacks on U.S. government systems have sparked frustration and inquiries about cybersecurity, leading to concerns about why America's enemies are able to breach its systems so frequently.

Chang stated that the American people should be outraged at their political leaders for not protecting them from the Chinese hacking, despite knowing what was happening.

Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., proposed that the U.S. should not only defend against attacks but also take an offensive stance.

"He advised Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo to stop focusing solely on improving defense and instead shift to taking offense."

Waltz stated that it is necessary to impose consequences on individuals who are stealing our technology, spying on us, and using a program called Volt Typhoon to place cyber time bombs on our critical infrastructure, including our water, grid, and ports.

"We must take a proactive approach to cybersecurity by imposing costs on those who steal our technology and attack our infrastructure, rather than simply reacting defensively," he emphasized.

The Biden administration has intensified its efforts to restrict China's semiconductor industry, while Trump has proposed a 60% tariff on U.S. imports from China.