Clinton had urged China on Thursday to conduct a thorough probe into cyberattacks on Google and other US companies, and lamented what she said was Beijing's increasing efforts to control what its 384 million web users can see.

"We firmly oppose such words and deeds, which go against the facts and are harmful to China-US relations," foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said, in China's strongest comments since the Google dispute erupted last week.

"We urge the United States to respect facts, and stop using the so-called Internet freedom issue to criticise China unreasonably," he said in a statement posted on the ministry website.

In a major policy speech on Internet freedom in Washington, Clinton reiterated US support for "a single Internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas".

She called on China "to conduct a thorough investigation of the cyber intrusions" revealed by Google and for "its results to be transparent".

The two sides have become locked in a spiralling dispute over Chinese web controls sparked by Internet giant Google's announcement last week it would no longer obey China's censorship rules and might pull out of the country.

Google said the decision was made after it suffered cyberattacks that the company believes originated in China and appeared aimed at cracking the email accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

China's government declined to respond to AFP requests Friday for comment on a possible investigation of the attacks.

Until Friday, Beijing had generally held fire in the dispute, defending its censorship as necessary and saying foreign firms must comply, but refraining from hitting back at mounting US criticism over its control of the Internet.

China is believed to employ thousands of people in a vast system of Internet censorship that has been dubbed the "Great Firewall of China," which polices what the world's largest online population can see and do on the web.

Beijing regularly invokes the need to stamp out pornography as a key reason for the controls, but critics contend its primary purpose is to quell political dissent or content seen as threatening to Communist Party rule.

Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and Cisco are among the US technology giants that have been accused of cooperating with the "Great Firewall" by acquiescing to Beijing's demands.

In her speech, Clinton appeared to call on other companies to follow Google's lead and defy China.

"The private sector has a shared responsibility to help safeguard free expression," Clinton said.

"And when their business dealings threaten to undermine this freedom, they need to consider what's right, not simply the prospect of quick profits."

The State Department has plans to hold a high-level meeting next month with companies that provide network services for talks on Internet freedom.

Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt said the California company would like to remain in China, but could no longer agree to censor results on its Web search engine there.

"We continue to follow their laws, we continue to offer censored results," Schmidt, warning that "in a reasonably short time from now, we will be making some changes there".

Microsoft on Thursday released a patch for an Internet Explorer 6 software hole through which China-based cyber spies allegedly probed the computer systems of Google and other companies.

On Thursday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei was quoted by state media as saying the Google case should not be linked with Sino-US relations.

Ma on Friday also urged the United States not to let the dispute upset relations, which are already dogged by a range of disputes over trade and currency issues, US arms sales to Taiwan, and climate change.

Ma said China hoped both sides would "respect each other's core interests and major concerns, properly handle differences and sensitive issues to maintain the healthy and steady development of Sino-US relations".

earlier related report
Clinton calls for Chinese probe into Google cyberattacks
Washington (AFP) Jan 21, 2010 - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged China Thursday to conduct a thorough probe into cyberattacks on Google and other US companies, pressing technology firms to resist Internet censorship.

Without specifically mentioning China, Clinton said in a speech on Internet freedom at the Newseum here that countries and individuals who engage in cyberattacks should be punished.

China, meanwhile, sought to play down the row with the United States over Google, insisting that the Internet giant's threat to quit the country over censorship and cyberattacks should not be linked to Sino-US ties.

Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt said the California company would like to remain in the Asian giant but could no longer agree to censor results on its Web search engine there.

"We're in conversation with the Chinese government," he said after releasing Google's quarterly results, which saw net profit soar five-fold to 1.97 billion dollars. "We made a strong statement that we wish to remain in China.

"We continue to follow their laws, we continue to offer censored results," Schmidt, warning that "in a reasonably short time from now, we will be making some changes there."

In another development, Microsoft released a patch for Internet Explorer 6 aimed at fixing a vulnerability in the Web browser that China-based cyber spies used to probe the computer systems of Google and other companies.

Clinton cited China, North Korea, Tunisia and Uzbekistan as countries restricting the "free flow of information" or censoring the Internet and noted that access to social networking sites in Vietnam has "suddenly disappeared."

Some 30 bloggers and activists have been detained in Egypt, she added, calling China, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam nations that have "co-opted the Internet as a tool to target and silence people of faith."

"On their own, new technologies do not take sides in the struggle for freedom and progress," she said. "But the United States does. We stand for a single Internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas."

She lamented the "electronic barriers" some countries have erected to limit people's access to the Internet and remove certain terms from search engine results.

"They have violated the privacy of citizens who engage in non-violent political speech," the chief US diplomat said, urging US technology firms to take up their "shared responsibility" to safeguard free speech and play a role in developing new tools to circumvent "politically motivated" censorship.

"American companies need to make a principled stand. This needs to be part of our national brand," she said.

"When their business dealings threaten to undermine this freedom, they need to consider what's right, not simply the prospect of quick profits."

The State Department has plans to hold a high-level meeting next month with companies that provide network services for talks on Internet freedom.

Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and Cisco are among the US technology giants that have been accused by US lawmakers and others of helping to build what has been dubbed the "Great Firewall of China."

Clinton called on China to conduct a "thorough review of the cyber intrusions" revealed by Google and for "its results to be transparent."

"The Internet has already been a source of tremendous progress in China, and it is fabulous. There are so many people in China now online," she said.

"But countries that restrict free access to information or violate the basic rights of Internet users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century."

Cyberattackers should face punishment, Clinton said.

"Those who disrupt the free flow of information in our society or any other pose a threat to our economy, our government and our civil society," she added.

"Countries or individuals that engage in cyberattacks should face consequences and international condemnation."

Her remarks came after Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said "the Google case should not be linked with relations between the two governments and countries.

"Otherwise, it's an over-interpretation," he added.

"If Google has any problems in its business in China, these must be resolved according to Chinese law, and the Chinese government is willing to help resolve these problems."

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