WASHINGTON/BEIJING, (Reuters) – China hit back at U.S. criticism of Internet censorship and hacking yesterday, warning that relations between the two global heavyweights were being hurt by a feud centred on web giant Google.
In a new wrinkle to an issue that grabbed centre stage after Google threatened to quit China over web hacking, an attorney for a free-speech group said U.S. trade officials have sought more information as they weigh calls to pursue a World Trade Organization case against Chinese Internet censorship.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton challenged Beijing and other authoritarian governments on Thursday to end Internet censorship, placing China in the company of Iran, Saudi Arabia and others as leading suppressors of on-line freedom.
China’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S. criticisms could hurt relations between the world’s biggest and third biggest economies, already strained by disagreements over trade imbalances, currency values and U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan.
“The U.S. has criticized China’s policies to administer the Internet and insinuated that China restricts Internet freedom,” said spokesman Ma Zhaoxu.
“We urge the United States to respect the facts and cease using so-called Internet freedom to make groundless accusations against China,” Ma said in a statement carried on the Foreign Ministry website www.mfa.gov.cn.
Clinton demanded that China investigate the hacking complaints from Google and said “countries or individuals that engage in cyber attacks should face consequences and international condemnation.”
President Barack Obama agreed with Clinton’s speech and “continues to be troubled by the cyber security breach” that Google blamed on China, a White House spokesman said.
“All we’re looking for from China are some answers,” Bill Burton told reporters traveling with Obama in Ohio.
KEEPING RELATIONS STABLE
China’s spokesman also indicated that his government did not want to see the dispute overwhelm cooperation with the Obama administration, which has sought Beijing’s help in reviving the world economy and in diplomatic standoffs, such as the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea.
Ma said each side should “appropriately handle rifts and sensitive issues, protecting the healthy and stable development of China-U.S. relations.”
Ma did not say why China — which blocks Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and filters overseas websites with content objectionable to the Communist Party — thought Clinton’s censorship allegations were groundless.
