<p>China on Monday said tweets by President Donald Trump suggesting Beijing was involved in a massive cyberattack on the US government were "a farce" concocted for political motives.</p>.<p>A large-scale hack of US government agencies including the Treasury was "under control" as of Saturday, according to the outgoing US President.</p>.<p>But in a tweet thread he undercut his own administration's assessment that Russia was behind the cyberattack, instead saying China "may" also have been involved, without providing any evidence.</p>.<p>Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin stopped short of directly denying Beijing's involvement, but called US accusations of cyberattacks "not serious, and self-contradictory."</p>.<p>"The accusations made by the US against China have always been a farce, out of political motives," Wang told a press briefing.</p>.<p>"The US has politicised cybersecurity issues, continuously spread false information without conclusive evidence... in an attempt to destroy China's image and mislead the international community," he added.</p>.<p>In July, two Chinese nationals were indicted by the US for seeking to steal coronavirus vaccine research and hacking hundreds of companies -- prompting Beijing to accuse Washington of "slander".</p>.<p>Trump's tweets on Saturday contradicted comments just a day earlier from his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the source and the severity of the cyberattack, leaving administration spokespeople scrambling to reconcile the conflicting takes.</p>.<p>Pompeo earlier said the breach was "pretty clearly" Russia's work, adding there had been a significant effort to use third-party software to "essentially embed code inside of US government systems".</p>.<p>Cyber experts said the attack could have far-reaching impact and take months to unravel.</p>.<p>Several US officials had previously pointed the finger at Moscow, but none at Beijing.</p>.<p>Russia has denied involvement in the latest attack.</p>.<p>Trump as president has frequently played down apparent threats from Russia -- including his refusal to recognise interference by Moscow in the 2016 election despite the findings of US intelligence agencies.</p>
<p>China on Monday said tweets by President Donald Trump suggesting Beijing was involved in a massive cyberattack on the US government were "a farce" concocted for political motives.</p>.<p>A large-scale hack of US government agencies including the Treasury was "under control" as of Saturday, according to the outgoing US President.</p>.<p>But in a tweet thread he undercut his own administration's assessment that Russia was behind the cyberattack, instead saying China "may" also have been involved, without providing any evidence.</p>.<p>Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin stopped short of directly denying Beijing's involvement, but called US accusations of cyberattacks "not serious, and self-contradictory."</p>.<p>"The accusations made by the US against China have always been a farce, out of political motives," Wang told a press briefing.</p>.<p>"The US has politicised cybersecurity issues, continuously spread false information without conclusive evidence... in an attempt to destroy China's image and mislead the international community," he added.</p>.<p>In July, two Chinese nationals were indicted by the US for seeking to steal coronavirus vaccine research and hacking hundreds of companies -- prompting Beijing to accuse Washington of "slander".</p>.<p>Trump's tweets on Saturday contradicted comments just a day earlier from his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the source and the severity of the cyberattack, leaving administration spokespeople scrambling to reconcile the conflicting takes.</p>.<p>Pompeo earlier said the breach was "pretty clearly" Russia's work, adding there had been a significant effort to use third-party software to "essentially embed code inside of US government systems".</p>.<p>Cyber experts said the attack could have far-reaching impact and take months to unravel.</p>.<p>Several US officials had previously pointed the finger at Moscow, but none at Beijing.</p>.<p>Russia has denied involvement in the latest attack.</p>.<p>Trump as president has frequently played down apparent threats from Russia -- including his refusal to recognise interference by Moscow in the 2016 election despite the findings of US intelligence agencies.</p>