China’s fury at ‘spying’ accusations
Print Edition
CHINA warned the United States yesterday that Washington was jeopardizing relations between the two countries by charging five Chinese military officers with cyber spying and called it “the biggest attacker of China’s cyberspace.”
China summoned the US ambassador after the officers were accused of “hacking” into American companies to steal trade secrets, the foreign ministry said.
Assistant foreign minister Zheng Zeguang told Max Baucus that the indictment had seriously harmed relations between the two countries and, depending on how the situation developed, China could take further action on the so-called charges.
Zheng also told Baucus: “The Chinese government and military and its associated personnel have never conducted or participated in the theft of trade secrets over the Internet.”
He said the US attitude to Internet security was “overbearing and hypocritical” and called for an explanation of reports that Washington had long spied on the Chinese government, businesses, universities and individuals.
The US owes China and the world an explanation of behavior that had been widely condemned by the international community, Zheng said, adding that the US was turning things upside down by pointing its finger at China.
China’s defense ministry summoned the American military attache yesterday to protest US actions “that seriously violated norms governing international relations and for seriously slandering the image of the Chinese army.”
It warned that the US accusations would chill gradually warming relations between the two militaries.
“The United States, by this action, betrays its commitment to building healthy, stable, reliable military-to-military relations and causes serious damage to mutual trust,” the ministry said.
It denounced Washington’s allegations as pure fabrication, a move to mislead the public based on ulterior motives.
“From WikiLeaks to the Snowden case, US hypocrisy and double standards regarding to the issue of cybersecurity have long been abundantly clear,” it said in a statement.
Leaks by former US government contractor Edward Snowden have alleged widespread US snooping in China.
Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a news briefing yesterday: “The Chinese government and Chinese military as well as relevant personnel have never engaged and never participated in so-called cyber theft of trade secrets.
“It is the US which has launched cyber-surveillance and wire-tapping against individuals, companies and institutions of many countries around the world. China is a victim of this.”
Jin Canrong, associate dean of the School of International Studies at Renmin University in Beijing, said: “If the case is not withdrawn, I expect the Chinese government to retaliate.”
Jin said the majority of China’s Internet users were furious about US double standards and negative public opinion would have a detrimental effect on relations.
China said that it was suspending cooperation with the US in a joint cybersecurity task force over the US charges and demanded that Washington withdraw the indictment.
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