China's pissed and rightfully so...

China: Clinton Internet speech harms ties with US

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 45 mins ago

BEIJING – China rejected Friday a call by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for the lifting of restrictions on the Internet in the communist country, denouncing her criticism as false and damaging to bilateral ties.

A state-run newspaper labeled the appeal from Washington as "information imperialism."

Clinton's speech Thursday elevated the issue of Internet freedom in the U.S. human rights agenda as never before. She urged China to investigate cyber intrusions that recently prompted search engine Google to threaten to pull out of the country.

"Regarding comments that contradict facts and harm China-U.S. relations, we are firmly opposed," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement posted Friday on the ministry's Web site.

"We urge the U.S. side to respect facts and stop using the so-called freedom of the Internet to make unjustified accusations against China," the statement said.

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GR4U - Just to be crystal clear. I have nothing but disdain for those communist bastards (the Chinese that is), but with our own government quietly going forward with the "Fairness Doctrine" in an attempt to muzzle political speech on talk radio, it is clearly the height of hypocrisy for the US government to lecture ANYBODY on issues of free speech! You can sure tell that we've got rookies running the show eh?