WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand’s intelligence agency on Friday joined allies in holding China responsible for a global hacking campaign targeting commercial secrets.

“New Zealand is committed to upholding the rules-based international order, and today joins likeminded partners in expressing that such cyber campaigns are unacceptable,” said Andrew Hampton, director general of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in a statement.

The GCSB’s statement said that alongside national security partners it had “established links” between the Chinese Ministry of State Security and a global campaign of cyber-enabled commercial intellectual property theft, which it become aware of in 2017.