image (2).jpg
The indictment of five Chinese military officers by the United States for alleged cyber economic espionage on Monday has caused China to give the United States a stern warning of a possible rift in military ties.
As a reaction, Beijing counter accused the United States on Tuesday of being "the biggest attacker of China's cyberspace" and said it will no longer extend cooperation to the US on the cybersecurity task force that was set-up last year.
According to the US Justice Department the Chinese military officers were found guilty of stealing trade secrets of top US companies for the economic gain of state-owned corporations.
During a news briefing on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei strongly denied the accusation saying that the Chinese government, its military and all concerned personnel have never resorted to such acts.
Hong said that China is calling on the United States to withdraw its indictment.
China's Ministry of National Defense also strongly denied the allegations labeling them as groundless and done for some ulterior motives.
The ministry also said that this recent development would threaten the otherwise warming military relations between the two countries.
In 2013, Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the US National Security Agency divulged information regarding the alleged involvement of NSA in hacking China's government and military units, companies and universities.
This revelation of Snowden, according to Fan Jishe, a US studies researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, disqualifies the US from accusing others of issues relating to cyber security.
Fan added that Beijing will respond with an equivalent action to the next moves the US would take.
Zhu Zhiqun, an international relations professor at Pennsylvania's Bucknell University said that the recent development clearly exhibits the biggest problem of US-China relations: deeply-seated suspicion and absence of mutual trust.
The new development in US-China relations is by far seen as the biggest challenge to the relations of the two economic giants since the summit between the presidents of the two countries held in California last summer.
