China Rejects Google's Phishing Attempt Claims, Accuses Google of "Pandering"

Over the last week, conflict between Google and China over alleged phishing attempts originating from China has escalated, with the People's Daily accusing Google of having "ulterior motives" and "pandering."

On June 1st, Google’s official blog revealed that a “campaign to collect user passwords” from senior U.S. government officials and Chinese political activists, among others, had originated in Jinan, China. Google noted that they had detected and prevented the phishing attempts, however, they urged users to upgrade their password protection.

Yesterday, June 6th, the People’s Daily- the leading newspaper of the Chinese ruling party- published an editorial warning Google to be careful about its accusations. The overseas edition stated that
Google was “deliberately pandering to negative Western perceptions of China, and strongly hinting that the hacking attacks were the work of the Chinese government.” It also said that the accusations of phishing were "spurious" and had "ulterior motives and...malign intentions."

Google had no comment on the response from China, although a spokesman stated that Google's goal was only to ensure the security of their users. These conflicts come after Google partially pulled out of China last year due to complaints about hacking and censorship.