China denies Pentagon cyber-raid

China today rejected a report that hackers controlled by its military had successfully entered a Pentagon network.

China today rejected a report that hackers controlled by its military had successfully entered a Pentagon network.

The Financial Timesreported that Chinese People's Liberation Army hackers broke into a US Defence Department network in June, taking data and prompting the shutdown of a system serving department secretary Robert Gates.

But China called the claim a product of "Cold War" thinking.

The report came a week after German Chancellor Angela Merkel raised similar claims that Chinese hackers had infected German government ministries with spying programmes. China deflected the German reports.

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Some people are making wild accusations against China
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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman

"The Chinese government has consistently opposed and vigorously attacked according to the law all Internet-wrecking crimes, including hacking," a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

"Some people are making wild accusations against China . . . They are totally groundless and also reflect a Cold War mentality."

Beijing has devoted a large part of its rising defence budget to developing more advanced technology, including computer capabilities.

But the Chinese spokeswoman said her government was also the victim of computer attacks.