China's Defense Ministry Friday accused the United States of "judicial bullying" in charging Chinese military personnel for allegedly hacking and stealing data from an American company, and called the U.S. an internationally recognized "habitual thief" when it comes to network security.

Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian made the remarks in response to a question raised at a press briefing. Wu said the U.S. fabricated the facts and the indictments had an ulterior motive.

"China's position on cybersecurity has always been clear," he said. "China is a staunch defender of international cybersecurity. The Chinese government always firmly opposed and cracked down on all forms of illegal and criminal cyber activities in accordance with the law. The Chinese army has never engaged in or participated in any form of cyber theft."

Wu added, "And from Wikileaks to (Edward) Snowden incident and to the most recent Swiss encryption incident, the United States has not yet been able to explain to the international community." 

Earlier this month, U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced the indictment of four officers of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) – Wu Zhiyong, Wang Qian, Xu Ke, and Liu Le.

Barr said they hacked into the systems of credit agency Equifax in 2017, stealing the personal information of more than 145 million Americans in one of the biggest data breaches in history.

The Chinese Defense Ministry had previously denounced the move by the U.S., calling it a "bully."

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China calls U.S. a 'bully' after it charges Chinese military personnel