China denies it is behind hacking of U.S. satellites

Beijing denied a U.S. commission's claim that China may have been responsible for hacking incidents on U.S. environment-monitoring satellites, saying that the committee had "ulterior motives" in writing such a draft report.

At least two U.S. environment-monitoring satellites were interfered with four or more times in 2007 and 2008 via a ground station in Norway, and China's military is a prime suspect, according to the draft report to Congress. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which reported the interference, said the events had not actually been traced to China. It said it was citing them "because the techniques appear consistent with authoritative Chinese military writings" that have advocated disabling satellite control facilities in any conflict. The committee "has always been viewing China with colored lenses," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular news briefing on Monday. "This report is untrue and has ulterior motives. It's not worth a comment."