The U.S. and Chinese embassies in Liberia are engaged in a social media squabble over whether it’s safe for African countries to use Chinese technology. The feud began on August 9th when the U.S. embassy published a short post on its Facebook page that summarized the risks, in its view, associated with using Chinese networking hardware. The post didn’t reveal any new information, and instead just restated the often-used U.S. government talking points related to cybersecurity and espionage.
Clearly, the post irked someone on the other side of Monrovia at the Chinese embassy. On Sunday, the embassy posted a 1600 word rebuttal, calling the U.S. accusations “absurd and disgusting.”