China Denies Google Hacking Claims

BEIJING, Jan. 25, 2010 — -- The diplomatic standoff in the case of Google vs. China continues with the Chinese government denying any involvement in the alleged hacking attacks on Google and defending its practice of online censorship.

But in an apparent bid to prevent further fallout, Beijing also declared its willingness to cooperate with the international community to combat Internet crimes.

A statement published by the official state news agency from a spokesperson of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said the "accusation that the Chinese government participated in a cyberattack, either in an explicit or inexplicit way, is groundless and aims to denigrate China."

The statement did not specifically refer to Google or the U.S. government, but it followed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's call Thursday for Beijing to investigate Google's allegations.

The statement also did not say if the Chinese authorities conducted any formal probe. Instead, it reiterated the government's "firm opposition" to Internet hacking and said China was actually "the biggest victim" of hacking and online virus attacks.

The statement said the Chinese government wanted to "deepen cooperation with other countries" on Internet security and "learn from their experiences to make the Internet a better place."

Meanwhile, an official from the Information Office of the State Council, China's Cabinet, defended the censorship of so-called "illegal and harmful online contents" as necessary to protect citizens and the government. He said it is "harmful" to allow online information that "incites subversion of state power, violence and terrorism or includes pornographic contents."

Speaking to China's state media, the unnamed official said such censorship "has nothing to do with the claims of 'restrictions on Internet freedom.'"

He pointed out that different countries have different conditions and argued that China's regulation of the Internet is suited to the country's conditions and in line with common practice in most countries.