China says US regularly hacks its military sites

Two Chinese military Web sites received about 144,000 hacking attacks on average a month last year, of which about two-third had originated from the United States.

In a statement published Thursday on China's Ministry of Defense Web site, spokesperson Geng Yansheng said the ministry's site as well as the Web site of China Military Online--which is operated the Chinese army--faced "serious threat from hacking attacks" since their establishment. The number of hacks targeting the two sites also had risen steadily in recent years, he said.

"According to the IP addresses, the Defense Ministry and China Military Online Web sites were, in 2012, hacked from overseas on average 144,000 times a month, of which attacks from the U.S. accounted for 62.9 percent," Geng said in the statement.

He also pointed to reports that the U.S. planned to expand its cyberwarfare capabilities which was not helpful in increasing international cooperation toward combating cybercrimes. "We hope the U.S. side can explain and clarify this," the Chinese defense official said.

Responding to the Mandiant report released last week, which alleged the Chinese army launched cyberattacks against U.S. companies, Geng reiterated China's response stating the report was "neither professional nor [accurate]" and "full of loopholes".

"Chinese law forbids hacking attacks which undermine mutual networking safety behavior, [and] the Chinese government has always resolutely combated crime live action. The Chinese army [also do not] support any hacker activity," he noted.

China previously said it was also a victim of cyberattacks and was eager to play a bigger role in fighting cybercrime. Earlier this week, the Chinese government voiced concerns accusations against the country would increase the risk of conflict and deter nations from working together to safeguard the Internet.