Chinese Media Calls for 'Severe Punishment' for Google, Other US Tech Firms

Chinese state media lashed out at Google Inc, Apple Inc and other U.S. technology companies on Wednesday, calling on Beijing "to punish severely the pawns" of the U.S. government for monitoring China and stealing secrets.
U.S. companies such as Yahoo Inc, Cisco Systems Inc, Microsoft Corp and Facebook Inc threaten the cyber-security of China and its Internet users, said the People's Daily on its microblog, in comments echoed on the front page of the English-language China Daily.

It is not clear what sparked this latest round of vitriol, nor what information the U.S. firms are alleged to have stolen. But Chinese media have repeatedly attacked American tech companies for aiding the U.S. government's cyber espionage since U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden revealed widespread spying programmes including Prism.

Under Prism, the NSA seized data from companies such as Google and Apple, according to revelations made by Snowden a year ago.

Chinese state-owned firms have since begun dispensing with the services of U.S. companies such as IBM Corp, Oracle Corp and Cisco in favour of domestic technology. As a result, Snowden's revelations may cost U.S. companies billions of dollars, analysts say.

Rocky time

In December, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Yahoo and other Internet companies issued an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama and Congress to reform and introduce restrictions on surveillance activities.

Even so, U.S. tech companies have had a rocky time in China since the NSA revelations. Just last month, central government offices were banned from installing Windows 8, Microsoft's latest operating system, on new computers.

But the U.S. has responded with its own measures. In May, the U.S. Department of Justice charged five Chinese military officers with hacking U.S. companies to steal trade secrets.

The indictment sparked outrage in China and added urgency to Beijing's efforts to promote the development of local information technology (IT) companies.

Chinese media called the United States "a high-level hooligan" and officials accused Washington of applying "double standards" on issues of cyber spying.

After the charges were announced, China said it will investigate providers of important IT products and services to protect "national security" and "economic and social development."