Chinese media: US is ‘real hacking empire’

BEIJING - Reuters

There has long been an escalating mistrust an tension between Beijing and Washington over hacking. REUTERS photo

China accused the United States of sowing discord between China and its neighbors after the Pentagon said Beijing is using espionage to fuel its military modernization, branding Washington the “real hacking empire.”

The salvo came a day after China’s Foreign Ministry dismissed as groundless a Pentagon report which accused China for the first time of trying to break into U.S. defense computer networks.

Cyber weapons ‘more frightening’

“As we all know, the U.S. is the real ‘hacking empire’ and has an extensive espionage network,” the People’s Daily, a newspaper regarded as a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, said in a commentary. The article, which was published under the pen name “Zhong Sheng,” meaning “Voice of China” said “in recent years, the U.S. has continued to strengthen its network tools for political subversion against other countries.”

“Cyber weapons are more frightening than nuclear weapons,” it added. “To establish military hegemony on the Internet by repeatedly smearing other countries is a dangerous and wrong path to take and will ultimately end up in shooting themselves in the foot.”

The People’s Liberation Army Daily also called the Pentagon report a “gross interference in China’s internal affairs.”

“Promoting the ‘China military threat theory’ can sow discord between China and other countries, especially its relationship with its neighboring countries, to contain China and profit from it,” the newspaper said in a commentary that was carried on China’s Defense Ministry’s website.