Miffed with the US over indictment of five People’s Liberation Army officers over commercial cyber espionage charges, China accused the US of hypocrisy and double standards.
Chinese Defence Ministry posted a statement on its website, saying, “From ‘WikiLeaks’ to the ‘Snowden’ case, US hypocrisy and double standards regarding the issue of cyber-security have long been abundantly clear”.
“The so-called ‘commercial espionage network’ is a pure fabrication by the US, a move to mislead the public based on ulterior motives,” the AFP quoted the statement.
Also, American ambassador to China, Max Baucus, was summoned by Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang on Monday night to lodge a solemn representation with the US side over cyber theft charges levelled on its officers, reported the Xinhua.
China has reacted angrily to the indictment, calling the charges groundless.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Qin Gang saying that Beijing had decided to halt participation in a US-China working group on cybersecurity.
The US, on the other hand, said it “won’t tolerate” the Chinese government-sponsored cyber thefts.
The US Justice Department has charged five Chinese military officers for hacking six American businesses and entities, namely US Steel Corp., Westinghouse, Alcoa, Allegheny Technologies, the United Steel Workers Union and SolarWorld.
The five Chinese officers – Wang Dong, Sun Kailiang, Wen Xinyu, Huang Zhenyu and Gu Chunhui — were charged on 31 counts, with each carrying a maximum of 15 years in prison.
