Close to two weeks after Internet search giant Google Inc. (GOOG) threatened to move out of China citing hacking attempts on certain Gmail accounts, China said Sunday that accusing the country's government of involvement in hacker attacks is unfounded, and is to discredit China's behavior, which it firmly opposes.
A spokesman of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in an interview with Xinhua that China's law prohibits any form of hacking, and that the country itself is the biggest hacker attack victim, a posting on the ministry's website said. Over one million IP addresses in China were under the control of overseas sources in 2009 and hackers tampered over 42,000 websites last year, the spokesman added. "China's policy on Internet safety is transparent and consistent," he said.
The spokesman said the world's third-largest economy would like to promote Internet security and the fight against hacker attacks to strengthen international cooperation. ''I would like to reiterate that we are willing to fight against hacker attacks and other crimes with countries around the world to carry out extensive and in-depth exchanges and cooperation, and actively learn from the useful experience of countries around the world, in order to build and manage to make a positive contribution to the Internet,'' the transcript of the interview said.
When Google raised the issue of hacking, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had expressed concern about the incident, saying ''We look to the Chinese government for an explanation.'' "The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy,'' she had said then.
GOOG closed Friday's regular trade at $550.01, down $32.97 or 5.66%, on 6.81 million shares.
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