BEIJING, CHINA: China has denied participating in a cyber attack on Internet giant Google and said that the accusation was "groundless and aims to denigrate China".

"Accusation that the Chinese government participated in cyber attack, either in an explicit or inexplicit way, is groundless and aims to denigrate China. We are firmly opposed to that," spokesman of the ministry of industry and information technology told Xinhua Sunday.

"China's policy on Internet safety is transparent and consistent," he said, adding that Internet security was a global concern which required international coordinated efforts.

China was willing to deepen cooperation with other countries and learn from their experiences to make Internet a better place, he said.

The spokesman's remarks came a fortnight after search engine giant Google said it might quit China citing disagreements with government policies and attacks targeting Google's services in China.

"China is the biggest victim country of hacking as its Internet has long been facing severe threats of hacker and online virus attacks," the spokesman said.

According to the Internet Society of China, the number of cyber attacks from abroad saw a year-on-year increase of 148 per cent in 2008.

They not only affected a large number of netizens but also sectors of finance, transportation and energy, which posed severe harm to economic development and people's lives, the spokesman said.

He noted the Chinese government had issued various regulations and launched many Internet safety campaigns against the attacks.

The National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team dealt with more than 1,000 Web incidents in 2009.
©IANS