国内英语新闻: Commentary: U.S. renews farce by accusing China of cyber espionage

BEIJING, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- The United States has once again embarrassed itself by indicting two alleged Chinese hackers for breaking into computers of U.S. government agencies, companies as well as other nations.

It's a slanderous campaign by the United States, which routinely depicts itself as cyber-espionage victim while pointing an accusatory finger elsewhere.

This time around Washington has taken a different approach, stressing that the alleged Chinese hackers have stolen secrets from other countries as well.

There's only one problem: No conclusive proof exists to support the alleged crimes.

International Business Machines (IBM), which is on the list of "victim companies," said it had no evidence that sensitive data and client information had been compromised.

In fact, it was not the first time for the United States, which has a notorious record in cyber issues, to cook up unfounded accusations against "Chinese hackers" via anonymous sources.

"Lanxiang Vocational School," a Chinese vocational school offering courses in subjects like cooking, auto repair and hairdressing, was reported as the "Chinese stronghold of hackers" by The New York Times several years ago, making the news source the butt of public jokes.

Coincidentally, Bloomberg Businessweek in a report two months ago claimed that China implanted malicious chips in the hardware of U.S. companies, which was swiftly denied by Apple and Amazon.

For long, it has been an open secret that U.S. cyber intelligence and institutionalized cyber forces hack into and eavesdrop on foreign governments, enterprises and individuals. But U.S. authorities and Western media have been working diligently to divert attention from that unpleasant fact by making bizarre accusations against China instead.

As China is steadfast in safeguarding cyber security and opposing all forms of cyber espionage, U.S. allegations of cyber espionage against China are unacceptable and have violated the basic norms of international relations and seriously undermined Sino-U.S. cooperation.

It should be borne in mind that accusing others of cyber espionage merely to cast a country in a poor light won't help address cyber security issues in the long run. Let's hope Washington quickly figures this out.