China responded Friday to allegations it was involved in a hacking attack on U.S. government computers by saying such claims are unproven and irresponsible, and that it wishes the United States would trust it more.
The administration of President Barack Obama has increasingly pressed China on the issue of cyberhacking, and on Thursday U.S. officials said China-based hackers are suspected of breaking into the computer networks of the U.S. government personnel office and stealing identifying information of at least 4 million federal workers. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said the attack amounted to a foreign power seeking information on U.S. employees who have security clearances for access to sensitive information.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular news briefing Friday that Beijing hopes the U.S. would be :
less suspicious and stop making any unverified allegations, but show more trust and participate more in cooperation
“We know that hacker attacks are conducted anonymously, across nations, and that it is hard to track the source,” Hong said. “It’s irresponsible and unscientific to make conjectural, trumped-up allegations without deep investigation.”
