China calls for global hacking rules
China issued a new call on Saturday for international "rules and cooperation" on internet espionage issues, while insisting that allegations of Chinese government involvement in recent hacking attacks were falsified as part of an international smear campaign.
The remarks, by Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, were China's highest level response yet to intensifying accusations that the Chinese military may be engaging in cyber espionage.
"Anyone who tries to fabricate or piece together a sensational story to serve a political motive will not be able to blacken the name of others nor whitewash themselves," he said. Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the annual session of the National Peoples' Congress, Mr Yang said reports of Chinese government involvement in cyber espionage were "built on shaky ground" and that cyberspace should not be turned into a battlefield.