China denies cyber attack on Google

The Chinese government has repudiated the claims that it has been involved in the recent attacks against Google and other US companies.

According to BBC News, they say that there is no evidence to make such accusations and they hit back by calling the US government hypocritical, since their national agencies have a history of illegally monitoring personal email accounts.

Speaking through the medium of a state-run daily newspaper, they also point out that America’s goal is to “exploit the internet’s advantages in internet funds, technology and marketing and export its politics, commerce and culture to other nations for political, commercial and cultural interests of the world’s only superpower”.

It very much sounds like “We didn’t do it, but if we had, this would be the reason”.

The recent speech by Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, in which she (among other things) urged the Chinese government to investigate the attack, was also seen as unwelcome meddling in the country’s domestic affairs.

“Any accusation that the Chinese government participated in cyberattacks, either in an explicit or indirect way, is groundless and aims to discredit China,” says a unnamed spokesman of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. “China’s policy on internet safety is transparent and consistent.”

Gillian Wong of AP reports that they also claim that China’s National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team didn’t receive any complaints or details about the attack from Google, making it impossible to offer help.

Strong reactions regarding the attacks and China’s claims were and are expected. David Berlind, the editor-in-chief of TechWeb.com, equals the attacks with a declaration of war. He also believes that the balance of power has shifted and that, despite the previously mentioned claim from the Chinese newspaper that America is the world’s only superpower, things seem to have changed in China’s favor.