BEIJING, March 4 (UPI) -- U.S. allegations that China is behind cyberattacks on its national interests are an effort to control public opinion, a Chinese scholar says.
U.S. security company Mandiant published a report last month stating that it traced cyberattacks on U.S. companies and government agencies to the Chinese military.
The New York Times reported that it hired Mandiant to investigate what it said was a cyberattack on its news operations. The Times described the attack as one of "sophisticated Chinese-origin."
Xu Peixi, an associate professor of communications at the University of China, writes in the official Xinhua news agency that claims coming out of the United States were part of an effort to control the public debate on Internet governance.
He said the alleged U.S. role in the Stuxnet malware that targeted Iran's nuclear program and the forming of a cybersecurity command center at the U.S. Defense Department were indicative of Washington's lopsided argument.
"The only solution to the U.S.-China dispute over Internet governance in general, and cybe security in particular, is for U.S. policy-makers to realize that this is not a bilateral matter," he writes.
Last month, Jose Fernandez, U.S. assistant secretary of state for economic affairs, said Chinese cybercriminals were suspected of pilfering U.S. computer technology.
"Corporate spying has cost U.S. companies billions of dollars," he said.
