WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- China says U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has hurt diplomatic relations by criticizing the Chinese for Internet censorship.
Clinton this week said China is part of a "new information curtain" descending over much of the world. Her remarks followed recent complaints by Google about Web censorship and alleged hacking by China.
Clinton's remarks touched off a series of meetings Friday between top U.S. and Chinese diplomats after China demanded U.S. officials "respect the truth," the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
China has been increasingly resistant to foreign pressure, rebuffing calls to revalue its currency and to support a global climate change treaty.
Clinton's speech put China further on the defensive because it highlighted the Obama administration's determination to make Internet freedom a core foreign policy issue, said Charles Kupchan, a National Security Council aide in President Bill Clinton's administration.
"This was definitely a shot across the bow," Kupchan said. "This is a level of rhetoric vis-a-vis China that is new."
