“The Chinese government has all along forbidden criminal activities in computer networks, including hacking,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu told reporters here.
China and the United States are committed to the “development of constructive cooperation and the two militaries have showed a good momentum of relations”, she noted.
“Some people made groundless accusations against China of hacking the Pentagon’s computer network. This is also a demonstration of the Cold War mentality,” she asserted.“Hacking is an international issue and China is a frequent victim of hacking,” Jiang claimed.
She said China is ready to strengthen cooperation with other countries, including the United States in countering Internet crimes.
Earlier, western media reports claimed that the Chinese military had successfully hacked the Pentagon’s computer network.
The Chinese military’s cyber attack was carried out in June following months of efforts, the London-based Financial Times said, citing unnamed current and former US officials.
While the Pentagon declined to say who was behind the hacking, which led to the shutdown of a computer system serving the office of Defence Secretary Robert Gates, officials told the paper it was China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). “The PLA has demonstrated the ability to conduct attacks that disable our system,” the paper quoted a former US official as saying.
The paper said both the US and Chinese militaries were widely assumed to conduct computer espionage on each other. “But US officials said the penetration in June raised concerns to a new level because of fears that China had shown it could disrupt systems at critical times,” the daily said.
Reports of China’s alleged hacking into Pentagon’s computer system has come about two weeks after it was reported that the Chinese military had also hacked into German government systems. The issue then came up in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during her recent visit.