China rejects Gmail interference allegations

CHINA HAS REJECTED allegations by Google of deliberate interference with the Gmail service.

Jiang Yu, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, told a press conference that Google's suggestion was "an unacceptable accusation", according to the BBC.

Users of the Gmail service in China encountered difficulties after there was an Internet campaign for popular protests similar to those in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. At first it appeared to be a technical difficulty, but Google vowed that it was having no difficulties and that the attack was masked to look like a problem with Gmail itself.

Similar rejections were given after Google accused China of being involved in hacking the Gmail accounts of human rights activists in the region last year. Chinese officials dismissed those claims as "groundless".

Google was so annoyed over the situation that it threatened to withdraw from China altogether unless China stopped filtering its search results there. A compromise situation was reached, where users could be forwarded to the Hong Kong website, but tensions have been high between the two ever since. µ