China military to tighten cyberspace security

BEIJING - The Chinese military will increase cyberspace security after reports of US cyber espionage against China, a Defense Ministry spokesman vowed on Thursday.

"The reports of US surveillance activities targeting Chinese government departments, companies and people reflect the US hypocrisy and hegemony," Geng Yansheng said at a monthly briefing on Thursday.

On Saturday, The New York Times and German magazine Der Spiegel reported that the US had spied on Chinese telecoms firm Huawei, citing classified documents provided to journalists by former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden.

Der Spiegel also reported that the NSA was targeting China's political leadership.

Stressing that US accusations of China's cyber espionage have been proved to be "sheer fiction," Geng said the Chinese military will take substantive and effective measures to prevent falling victim to such hacking itself.