14 DAY TRIAL // China responded angrily to Google's new report about Gmail spear phishing attacks against U.S. government officials, military personnel, political activists and journalists, that allegedly originated in the Asian country.
"Blaming these misdeeds on China is unacceptable," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a news briefing in Beijing, according to The Telegraph.
"Hacking is an international problem and China is also a victim. The claims of so-called Chinese state support for hacking are completely fictitious and have ulterior motives," he stressed.
China is regularly being fingered as a source of cyber espionage attacks against government agencies, contractors and other key companies in U.S., Europe, Australia and other countries.
Many security experts believe the Chinese government, the People's Liberation Army (PPA) and the Communist Party of China (CPC) have hackers on their payroll and are ordering the attacks.
The Chinese government has repeatedly rejected these accusations, claiming China is a victim just like anyone else. The PPA recently established a division of cyber security experts who will defend its networks from cyber attacks and will train other officers in the future.
The Chinese media is even harsher in denouncing Google's report. "The chimerical complaints by Google have become obstacles for enhancing global trust between stakeholders in cyberspace," writes Xinhua, China's state news agency.
"[...] It is not appropriate for Google, a profit-first business, to act as an Internet judge," Xinhua continues, pointing out that the U.S. Internet giant has had ethical issues of its own.
It goes on to detail Google's problems with U.S. regulators after it wasn't vigilant enough in preventing rogue pharma ads from entering its ad network. The Chinese press agency suggests this was because they were very lucrative.
"It is a real pity that Google's baseless complaints have distress mutual trust and the efforts to establish new global governance in cyberspace, letting real online criminals obtain illegal profits without being punished," it concludes.