BEIJING, February 20 (RIA Novosti) – China’s Defense Ministry officially denied on Wednesday that it was behind cyber-attacks on American companies and organizations.
“Chinese law forbids any activity that would undermine the security of cyberspace, the Government of the People’s Republic of China fights this kind of violation,” a statement posted on the Chinese People's Liberation Army’s official website on Wednesday says.
The statement calls any accusations of this nature leveled at China “baseless” and adds that cyber-attacks are often anonymous, and their location of origin can be difficult to pinpoint. It also stresses that “the Chinese military has never supported the activity of hackers.”
The Virginia-based US firm Mandiant, which specializes in cyber-security issues, published a report on Tuesday claiming hacker-attacks on US companies were being carried out by a special unit within the Chinese Army, based near Shanghai.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Tuesday refuted these claims, adding that China regularly comes under hacker attack from locations within the United States.
The US may consider slapping trade restrictions on China, if it is proved that these attacks originated there and had official support from Beijing, international media reported on Tuesday.
