Justice Minister Jo Vandeurzen told newspapers he believes the Chinese government is engaged in espionage. The attacks were carried out using e-mail with software that can send information back to the attacker, Gazet van Antwerpen and De Tijd reported.

The Chinese are allegedly interested in Belgium because the European Union and NATO have their headquarters in Brussels. Belgium also has historical ties to Africa, a continent becoming increasingly important to China.

The Intelligence Committee has begun an investigation, Flandersnews reported.

China has allegedly carried out similar attacks on German and Dutch computers.