China paper: Google could be hurt by hacking claim

Associated Press

BEIJING

The Chinese Communist Party’s main newspaper lashed out at Google on Monday, saying its latest complaints of computer hacking traced to China were politically motivated and warning its business might suffer.

“Google’s accusations against China are fictitious and have ulterior motives and sinister intentions,” the People’s Daily said in its foreign edition.

The newspaper accused Google Inc. of trying to fan disputes between Beijing and Washington and hamper cooperation in fighting cybercrime.

Google said last week it had traced hacking attacks against the email accounts of several hundred people, including U.S. government officials, military personnel and political activists, to the eastern Chinese city of Jinan. Beijing denied responsibility for the attacks.

“Google should not be drawn into international political conflicts and serve as a tool for political games, because one fears that if international political winds shift, it might be sacrificed and suffer in the marketplace,” the editorial said.

Google’s relations with Beijing have been chilly since the company, based in Mountain View, Calif., closed its China search engine last year after a public dispute over censorship that angered Communist leaders.