China has lodged stern representations with the U.S. after the U.S. Justice Department accused two Chinese nationals of hacking intellectual property and confidential business information.
The move has severely violated basic norms governing international relations and is seriously harmful to the cooperation between the two countries, said Hua Chunying, spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry on Friday.
China urges the U.S. side to immediately correct its erroneous actions and cease its slanderous smears relating to Internet security, Hua said, adding that China would take necessary measures to safeguard its own cyber security and interests.
It has long been an "open secret" that U.S. government agencies have hacked into and listening in on foreign governments, companies and individuals, said the spokesperson.
The U.S. side making unwarranted criticisms of China in the name of so-called "cyber stealing" is blaming others while oneself is to be blamed, and is self-deception. China absolutely cannot accept this, Hua added.
The ministry said Britain and other countries had also made “slanderous comments” stemming from “ulterior motives.”
The U.S. Justice Department has indicted two Chinese nationals, Zhu Hua and Zhang Shilong, accusing them of hacking intellectual property and confidential business information.
Washington's move may 'seriously harm China-U.S. relations'
Commenting on the issue at Chinese Foreign Ministry's regular press briefing on Friday afternoon, Hua slammed Washington's accusations as "groundless," adding that the indictment of the two Chinese nationals may "seriously harm China-U.S. relations."
"As a defender of cyber security, China has always firmly opposed to and fought against any forms of cyber theft," Hua said. "The Chinese government has never been involved in any form of behavior to steal commercial secrets, nor has it supported anybody to do so."
It is an open secret that some U.S. departments have been engaged in large-scale monitoring activities against foreign governments, enterprises and individuals in cyberspace for years, the spokeswoman noted.
"There are reports that IBM has clarified that no data has been stolen by the Chinese," she continued. "As the world's most powerful country, the United States is not only self-respecting and self-serving, but it's so narrow-minded that it is only thinking of safeguarding its own hegemony."