China pledges to punish Google hackers

The aftermath of the cyber attacks, said to have originated from China, led to Google threatening to pull out of the country. Google had never filed a report to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology over the cyber attacks or sought negotiations

The hacking issue made headlines again in late February after reports in the Western media that the attacks had been traced to two schools in China, and the writer of the spyware used had been identified as a Chinese security consultant in his 30s with government links.

"If Google has had evidence that the attacks came from China, the Chinese government will welcome them to provide the information and will severely punish the offenders according to the law," Vice Minister Miao Wei said.

"We never support hacking attacks because China also falls victim to hacking attacks," he said.

Miao said the ministry did not receive any formal information about Google's plan to withdraw from the world's largest online community with 384 million users at the end of last year

"If Google decides to continue its business in China and abides by China's laws, it's welcome to stay," he said, vowing to continue providing a sound investment environment for foreign investors and protect their legitimate rights.

"If the company chooses to withdraw from the Chinese market, it must go through certain procedures according to the law and regulations and deal with customers' problems that may arise."