Beijing summoned the US ambassador and accused Washington of double standards Tuesday as a diplomatic row escalated over the unprecedented indictment of five Chinese military officers for cyber-espionage. The world's top two economies have long been at loggerheads over hacking and China's defence ministry denounced Washington's allegations as "a pure fabrication by the US, a move to mislead the public based on ulterior motives".
"From 'WikiLeaks' to the 'Snowden' case, US hypocrisy and double standards regarding the issue of cyber-security have long been abundantly clear," the ministry said in a statement on its website. China summoned US ambassador Max Baucus to lodge a "solemn representation" over the indictment, and suspended co-operation with the US on cyber-security issues. It 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.
Beijing's furious response came after a US grand jury indicted five Chinese officers on charges they broke into US computers to benefit Chinese state-owned companies, in the first-ever prosecution by Washington of state actors over cyber-espionage. Analysts said the United States was unlikely to be able to put the men on trial but the indictments were an attempt to apply public pressure on China over the issue.