BBC Online :
China has denounced US charges against five of its army officers accused of economic cyber-espionage.
Beijing says the US is also guilty of spying on other countries, including China, and accuses the US of hypocrisy and “double standards”.
China has summoned the US ambassador in Beijing over the incident. It says relations will be damaged.
US prosecutors say the officers stole trade secrets and internal documents from five companies and a labour union.
The BBC’s John Sudworth in Shanghai says it is extremely unlikely that any of the accused will ever be handed over to the US.
China’s defence ministry put out a strongly-worded statement on its website on Tuesday saying that China’s government and its military “had never engaged in any cyber espionage activities”.
It also took aim at the US, saying: “For a long time, the US has possessed the technology and essential infrastructure needed to conduct large-scale systematic cyber thefts and surveillance on foreign government leaders, businesses and individuals. This is a fact which the whole world knows.
“The US’ deceitful nature and its practice of double standards when it comes to cyber security have long been exposed, from the Wikileaks incident to the Edward Snowden affair.”
