Blanket denial is not helpful: US to China on Google

I / Washington January 23, 2010, 15:11 IST

Noting that President Barack Obama is "troubled" by cyber attacks on Google, a senior Obama administration official has said a "blanket denial" by China on the issue will not be helpful and the US was looking for an explanation from the Chinese authorities on it.  

"We seek an explanation from China. We are trying to ascertain facts. The Chinese have denied that anything has happened. I think the Google statement speaks for itself. We seek an explanation from China about what did happen. A blanket denial - that nothing happened - we don't think is particularly helpful," said P J Crowley, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs.  

The State Department said it has had talks with the Chinese Ambassador in Washington regarding Clinton's speech, the issue of Google and broader aspects of US-China relationship.  

"I would anticipate that we will have ongoing meetings both here in Washington and in Beijing on all of these subjects," he said.  

Crowley said the State Department has expressed serious concerns on Google's allegation that people's emails were being breached by the Chinese.  We have serious concerns that someone in China has targeted human-rights activists; hacked into, and had an impact in terms of the commercial relationship between Google and China, he added.

Meanwhile White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told reporters that "President continues to be troubled by the cyber security breach that Google attributes to China. His view is, as he said even in China, that unfettered Internet access is an important value."

"As Secretary (of State, Hillary) Clinton said yesterday, all we are looking for some answers from China," he told reporters travelling with the President abroad Air Force One to Cleveland, Ohio.  

However, the Obama Administration said the Google- China spat is unlikely to have any adverse impact on its relationship with Beijing.  

"We have a broad relationship with China... It is far more stable than it has been in some time. We have a range of issues where we have disagreements. I don't think we are currently on the same page in terms of what happened in this case or its ramifications," he said.  

"That's why the secretary said from the outset that this incident raises serious questions, and we seek an explanation. It's why we've had multiple meetings, including one last evening, with China on this subject," Burton said.  

Noting that there were many facets to the US-China relationship, many areas where the two countries can cooperate, the White House spokesman, Mike Hammer, said there were areas where Washington would disagree with China like issues of human rights.