China accuses US of online piracy
Xinhua cites study by China's top internet security agency, claims that 2,196 control servers in the United States "controlled" 1.29 million host computers in China. The battle for control of the Internet continues.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) - More than half of the hacking attacks on China in the first two months of this year came from the United States, state news agency Xinhua said on Sunday, adding more fuel to the fire of controversy between Beijing and Washington.

Xinhua cited data from China's top internet security agency, the National Computer Network Emergency Response Co-ordination Centre (CNCERT).

For the first two months of the year, 2,196 control servers in the United States "controlled" 1.29 million host computers in China, making it "the top-ranking country" that hacked into servers and host computers in China, according to the CNCERT.

Today's Xinhua report appears to be a response to accusations by a US computer security company in February said that a Chinese military unit was the worst hacker in the world.

Over the past few years, the governments of the two nations have been vying for control of the Internet, which has often been used for industrial espionage and insider trading.