Hackers with links to China compromised the network of a regional organisation based in Suva, Fiji, between July and August 2026, the US Embassy in Fiji said on Monday, October 12, Reuters reported. “Hackers with links to China maintained access to the organization’s network over several days,” the embassy said.
The embassy, which covers Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu, did not name the organisation or say what information may have been accessed. It said it had informed the Fijian government and the affected group of the suspected breach and given them technical recommendations to secure their networks. Asked for more detail, the embassy told Fijivillage that the purpose of the disclosure was to highlight a trend it sees across Pacific Islands countries.
“In the Pacific Islands region, the United States continues to observe state-sponsored cyber threat actors linked to China targeting foreign governments, multilateral organisations, and telecommunications networks,” the embassy said, according to RNZ. It said information stolen through such activity gives China’s intelligence services and other malign actors access to sensitive information and compromises communications between Pacific Island countries and territories.
The statement went beyond hacking. According to PINA, the embassy also raised concerns about alleged links between criminal networks, corruption and foreign influence in the Pacific, referring to scholarship on what researchers call “systemic geocriminality” and alleged links between China’s United Front and criminal figures. It cited Zhao Fugang, alleging that his actions had left Fiji vulnerable to malign foreign influence involving Chinese government, business and criminal actors.
Fiji reviews, Beijing denies
Ioane Naivalurua, Fiji’s Minister for Policing and Communications, said he was reviewing the situation and that police were investigating, AFP reported. He urged governments, organisations and the private sector to “take preventative action and harden the security of their respective digital systems.” The Fijian government did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The Pacific Islands Forum, the region’s main political bloc, said it was not the organisation that had been hacked. “While the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat is not affected, cybersecurity is increasingly important to the Pacific as the region’s digital security is closely linked to its economic resilience, national sovereignty, regional security, and wellbeing of Pacific communities,” a PIF spokeswoman told AFP.
China rejected the allegation. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand told RNZ Pacific the claim was the same kind of “disinformation” seen many times before, calling it politically motivated and aimed at sowing discord between China and Pacific countries. The Chinese Embassy in Fiji said China “firmly opposes and combats hacking activities in accordance with law” and accused the US of making accusations without evidence, The Fiji Times reported. In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China was not aware of the case. “At the same time, we also oppose using cybersecurity issues to smear China,” she said.
A wider pattern of activity
The disclosure followed other US action against China-linked hackers. Earlier in October, the Justice Department seized seven internet domains it said were used by hackers working with a Chinese IT firm to scan and hack US and foreign critical infrastructure, Reuters reported. Proofpoint said earlier in October that Chinese hackers have been impersonating AI experts since at least 2025 to steal passwords from people at think tanks, universities and law firms.
The embassy told Fijivillage that the FBI and Justice Department takedown of the “QScan” and “QTRouter” platforms, which it said were operated by Chinese state-sponsored hackers, “matters directly for the Pacific.” According to AFP, an FBI affidavit said a group called QTFY, which included former members of China’s military and worked for a company paid by China’s Ministry of State Security, had targeted NASA, the US Department of Energy and power companies.
The Pacific has been hit before. In 2024, Australia sent cyber specialists to Fiji after Chinese state-backed hackers infiltrated the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat’s networks in what sources described as an “extensive” attack, ABC News reported at the time. The Lowy Institute’s Mihai Sora told the ABC that Pacific governments were “rapidly undergoing digital transformations” but that the “accompanying cybersecurity measures are lagging.”
Fiji’s role in regional connectivity is growing. Google is expanding a network of subsea cables linking Guam, Australia, French Polynesia and the mainland United States via Suva, and US officials have previously urged Fiji to boost cybersecurity to guard against data risks from China, AFP reported.
WebProNews is an iEntry Publication