Google searches angered Chinese

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BEIJING, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Chinese leaders went after Google after looking themselves up and finding criticism, a leaked U.S. Embassy cable indicates.

The May 18, 2009, cable is among the 250,000 documents revealed by the WikiLeaks whistle-blower Web site, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Titled "Google China Paying Price for Resisting Censorship," it said Politburo member Li Changchun was shocked to find he could make Chinese-language searches on Google's main international site. When Li typed his name into google.com, he found "results critical of him."

The cable is one of many that depict the Chinese leadership as obsessed with the Internet's threat to their power -- and its opportunities to spy on and attack enemies.

The cables from Beijing discuss major Chinese hacking operations, including one targeting Google.

The hacking began earlier and was aimed at more U.S. government and military data than previously known, including attacks on computers of American diplomats preparing positions on a climate change treaty.

The demands on Google went beyond censoring subjects like the Dalai Lama or the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Chinese officials also pressured the United States to censor Google Earth by lowering the resolution of images of Chinese facilities.