BEIJING (AP) — China accused the U.S. National Security Agency of carrying out cyberattacks on its national time center, saying any damage to related facilities could have disrupted network communications, financial systems and power supply.

The Ministry of State Security alleged that the American agency had exploited vulnerabilities in the messaging services of a foreign mobile phone brand to steal sensitive information from devices of the National Time Service Center’s staff in 2022. It did not specify the brand.

The National Security Agency also used 42 types of “special cyberattack weapons” to target the center’s multiple internal network systems and attempted to infiltrate a key timing system between 2023 and 2024, it said in a post on WeChat, a Chinese social media platform.

The ministry said it had evidence but did not provide it in the post.

It said the time center is responsible for generating and distributing China’s standard time, in addition to providing timing services to industries such as communications, finance, power, transport and defense. The ministry added that it had provided guidance to the center to eliminate the risks.

“The U.S. is accusing others of what it does itself, repeatedly hyping up claims about Chinese cyber threats,” the post said.

The U.S. Embassy did not address the Chinese allegation in an emailed response.

The response focused on China’s cyberattacks, calling them the most active and persistent threat to the U.S. government and companies.