Chinese government: Don't blame us for cyber attacks

The official statement came out of Beijing first thing Monday morning:  the Chinese government didn't have anything to do with the cyber attacks on Google and other countries, according to reports. Furthermore, such accusations are "groundless" and aim to "denigrate China," a government spokesperson said, and the government is firmly opposed to that.

And, just to be clear, China says its regulation of the Internet is legal and, as such, should not be interfered with by outside parties - and that includes the U.S.

Earlier this month, when Google blew the whistle on the December attacks, it never came right out and accused the government of being involved. It simply said that, as a result of the attacks, as well as other reasons, it would no longer censor results on its Chinese site and was willing to shut down its operations in China over it.

Now, as the U.S. government has backed Internet freedom - and, indirectly, Google's position - tensions have increased between the two countries. In a CNET report, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman is quoted as saying:

The U.S. has criticized China's policies to administer the Internet and insinuated that China restricts Internet freedom... This runs contrary to the facts and is harmful to China-U.S. relations.

Also see: Special Report: Google, China showdown