Editorial in state press says Americans are world's biggest online spies and indicting Chinese army officers is 'shameless'

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Washington is playing the victim of cyber-espionage when in fact it is the world's top intelligence power, a Chinese state-run newspaper has said in a sharply worded editorial after US authorities levelled criminal hacking charges at China's army.



"Regarding the issue of network security, the US is such a mincing rascal that we must stop developing any illusions about it," wrote the Global Times, which is close to the ruling Communist party.

On Monday a US grand jury indicted five Chinese military officers on charges they broke into US computers to steal for Chinese state-owned companies. It is the first ever prosecution by the US of state actors over cyber-espionage.

Beijing responded furiously, summoning US ambassador Max Baucus and accusing Washington of double standards. Chinese authorities also banned the use of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system on all new government computers and suspended activities of a bilateral cyber working group.

The Global Times, which often takes a nationalistic stance, said Washington's "pretentious accusation against Chinese army officers is ridiculous" given that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had engaged in widespread cyber-spying through its Prism programme.

"Interpol should have ordered the arrest of designers and implementers of the Prism programme but they did not," the paper wrote. "Therefore the US is acting so shameless by posting photos of the five Chinese army officers."

US prosecutors have said the five indicted officers belonged to Unit 61398 of the People's Liberation Army.

A report last year by the US security firm Mandiant said the unit had thousands of workers operating from a nondescript 12-storey building on the outskirts of Shanghai to pilfer intellectual property and government secrets.

Beijing has denied the accusations and the Global Times on Wednesday called them "beyond our imagination".

"It's fresh to us that Chinese military and civil companies have such a close relationship," the paper said.