Awh, China again? No "Lie!"

China's denial of complicity in the attacks on Japan's major defense contractor (I reported on the attack yesterday) is ridiculous. Even if I didn't think before that China was involved, the wording of their denial puts them back into a list of "the usual suspects" on which I've previously written. The Computerworld story quotes Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei (I wonder if any news broadcasters have pronounced his name with an emphasis on the last vowel in his name—making it Hong "Lie"?) as saying:

"The Chinese government has consistently opposed hacking attack activities. Relevant laws strictly prohibit this," Hong told reporters for Reuters, the Associated Press, and other outlets, during a regular press briefing Tuesday.

"Criticism that China initiated a cyberattack is not only groundless, it goes against development of international cooperation on cybersecurity," Hong said.

I raised my eyebrows yesterday that Time Magazine would use Aljazeera as their source on this story. Now it's making more sense. Time editors may have wanted to point the finger at anyone but China. Who better than jihadists?