Chinese experts rebute Pentagon cyber report

Chinese experts rebute Pentagon cyber report

BEIJING, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese experts on Tuesday refutedclaims by the Pentagon released in a report that China isdeveloping cyberwarfare capabilities, saying that the U.S. militarywas attempting to blacken China's image.

"I've never heard about any plans by China to develop its cyberattack forces, not to mention China's so-called 'organized cyberintrusion," Hu Qiheng, president of the Internet Society of China(ISC) told Xinhua on the sidelines of the China Internet Conference,which opened here Tuesday.

"It is a mere fabrication that China is using computertechnologies to intrude on other countries' sovereignty," Hu said.

The Chinese expert's comments came after the U.S. Department ofDefense concluded early Tuesday in its annual assessment report sentto the U.S. Congress that "China is fielding...cyberwarfarecapabilities to hold targets at risk throughout the region."

"The U.S. purpose (of releasing such a report) is to tarnishChina's image and exaggerate the threat China poses," Hu said.

The U.S. was the top country of cyber attack origin in 2008,accounting for 25 percent of worldwide activity, according to areport by U.S. security firm Symantec.

The ISC said more than 1 million Internet Protocol addresses inChina were controlled by overseas hackers while 42,000 Chinesewebsites were tampered or hacked in 2009.

Ni Feng, deputy director of the Institute of American Studieswith the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the United Stateshas greatly outstripped any other country in terms of Internettechnological power.

"As the source of Internet technology, the United States enjoysthe most advanced Internet technologies and equipment in the world,"Ni said, "thus it makes no sense and is beyond my comprehension forthe United States to play up such cyber threat from China."

"Maybe the only reasonable explanation is that the United Stateshas always been on the alert for China's development," Ni said. "TheU.S. government needs this kind of rhetoric as an excuse to scale upits cyberwarfare capabilities and win support from Congress, themedia and the public at large."

"If the United States continues such behavior, looking for topicsto attack China, the mistrust between the two countries will onlyget worse," he added.