Chinese FM urges US to stop smearing China by hyping up cybersecurity issues

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun urged the United States to stop smearing China by hyping up the issues of cybersecurity on Monday. Responding to a media inquiry over the U.S. Treasury Department's sanctions against Chinese companies under the pretext of supporting "cyber attacks," Guo said China firmly opposes the illegal unilateral sanctions.

"On the issue of the so-called 'cyber attacks,' China has expounded its position for many times. China always firmly opposes and cracks down on hacker attacks in accordance with the law. We urge the United States to stop using the issues of cybersecurity to smear China," said Guo.

"For some time now, the United States has been hyping up the so-called 'Chinese hacker attacks' and even imposed illegal unilateral sanctions against China. China firmly opposes this and will take necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests," the spokesman said.

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 20 pips to 7.0108 against the U.S. dollar Monday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.

In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.