The Foreign Ministry slammed a report by a US congressional committee blaming the Chinese government for hacking computers at a government corporation that insures bank deposits.

The Chinese government likely hacked computers at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp in 2010, 2011 and 2013, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Science, Space and Technology Committee of the US House of Representatives.

"We have repeatedly said that whoever puts forward an accusation should come up with concrete evidence instead of using easy, speculative words like 'possibly' or 'perhaps'," ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a news conference on Thursday.

He reaffirmed China's opposition to cyberattacks and said the accusations are not conducive to international cooperation in cybersecurity.

Shane Shook, a cybersecurity expert who helped investigate some of the breaches uncovered to date, was quoted by Reuters as saying he did not see convincing evidence in the report that the Chinese government was behind the FDIC hack.

Washington has accused Beijing of hacking into computer systems at a range of federal agencies in recent years.

Da Wei, director of the Institute of American Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said cybersecurity issues should be discussed through the high-level mechanism for dialogue created by China and the US administration during President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington in September.

Members of Congress have accused the Chinese military or government of cyberattacks outside of that framework, Da said.

"Releasing reports unilaterally is not conducive to cooperation between the two major victims of cyberattacks," he said.

"The reason is that few congressmen can tell the differences between hacking 'from China' and 'by China'," said Wang Xiaofeng, an associate researcher at Fudan University's Center for American Studies. "They attempt to gain political capital and public support by hyping up cybersecurity threats from China."

The report shows that the US Congress is not sincere about solving cybersecurity issues, Wang said.

mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/15/2016 page4)