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China denies involvement in hacking of
Google sites
AP, BEIJING
Tuesday, Jan 26, 2010, Page 1
China denied involvement in Internet attacks and defended its online
restrictions as lawful yesterday after the US urged Beijing to investigate a
computer attack against search engine giant Google.
The company announced on Jan. 12 that it would pull out of China unless the
government relaxes its rules on censorship. The ultimatum came after Google said
e-mail accounts of human rights activists critical of China had been hacked.
Since then, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has criticized the
censorship of cyberspace, drawing a strong counterattack from Beijing. The
Chinese Foreign Ministry on Friday said her remarks damaged bilateral relations,
while a Chinese state newspaper said Washington was imposing ¡§information
imperialism¡¨ on China.
The increasingly heated environment is likely to pose challenges to negotiating
an arrangement that would suit both Google¡¦s and China¡¦s interests.
The company says it remains optimistic it can persuade China¡¦s ruling party to
loosen restrictions on free expression on the Internet, so it can keep doing
business in the country. However, China¡¦s government has given little indication
it¡¦s willing to budge.
¡§Increasingly, the line emerging from the Chinese government is harder and less
open to compromise,¡¨ said Russell Leigh Moses, an analyst of Chinese politics
based in Beijing. ¡§Hillary Clinton¡¦s speech was seen by many officials here as
the United States¡¦ laying down a marker and put matters in a more
confrontational mode.¡¨
Yesterday, China was on the defensive again.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said the country¡¦s
anti-hacking policy is transparent and consistent.
¡§Any accusation that the Chinese government participated in cyberattacks, either
in an explicit or indirect way, is groundless and aims to discredit China,¡¨ an
unidentified ministry spokesman said, according to a transcript of an interview
with the Xinhua News Agency posted on the ministry¡¦s Web site.
The Chinese Communist Party¡¦s official People¡¦s Daily newspaper, meanwhile,
accused the US government of strictly controlling the Internet at home, while
urging other countries to build an ¡§Internet freedom utopia.¡¨
¡§In reality, this ¡¥Internet freedom¡¦ that it is marketing everywhere is nothing
but a diplomatic strategy, and only an illusion of freedom,¡¨ the paper said.
Xinhua also cited the State Council, China¡¦s Cabinet, as criticizing what it
called interference in the country¡¦s domestic affairs.
Internet control is considered a critical matter of state security in China.
Beijing promotes Internet use for commerce but heavily censors content it deems
pornographic, anti-social or politically subversive.
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