Australian minister blames US for leaks
Source: Agencies |
December 9, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AUSTRALIA'S foreign minister said yesterday that the American government is responsible for the leaking of classified diplomatic memos and cautioned against blaming the WikiLeaks website that published the secret cables and its founder.
United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other American officials have said that WikiLeaks acted illegally when it posted the sensitive files memos from American embassies around the world that have embarrassed Washington.
The US government is investigating whether Julian Assange, the website's Australian founder, can be prosecuted for espionage or other offenses.
But Kevin Rudd said the blame lies with the leaker and the US government's failure to protect its secrets properly.
"The bottom line here is that the core of all this lies with the failure of the government of the US to properly protect its own diplomatic communications," Rudd told Melbourne Talk Radio yesterday.
"To have several million people on their distribution list for a quarter of a million cables - that's where the problem lies and the person or persons responsible for their unauthorized release. Who then gets engaged in the business of disseminating the content of that information, be it WikiLeaks, or anybody else, well that's a matter to be tested by the police," Rudd said.
United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other American officials have said that WikiLeaks acted illegally when it posted the sensitive files memos from American embassies around the world that have embarrassed Washington.
The US government is investigating whether Julian Assange, the website's Australian founder, can be prosecuted for espionage or other offenses.
But Kevin Rudd said the blame lies with the leaker and the US government's failure to protect its secrets properly.
"The bottom line here is that the core of all this lies with the failure of the government of the US to properly protect its own diplomatic communications," Rudd told Melbourne Talk Radio yesterday.
"To have several million people on their distribution list for a quarter of a million cables - that's where the problem lies and the person or persons responsible for their unauthorized release. Who then gets engaged in the business of disseminating the content of that information, be it WikiLeaks, or anybody else, well that's a matter to be tested by the police," Rudd said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
