Beijing has denounced as “pure slander” allegations made by two US senators, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, that China seeks to use a multi-million-dollar undersea cable project in the Pacific for “espionage”.

“The Senators you mentioned will oppose whatever China does. They are always making up lies to smear China to seek political gains. Their allegation is pure slander aimed to justify the wanton US suppression of high-tech Chinese companies,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said slamming the charges.

The spokesman added that China’s government encouraged domestic companies to seek investment cooperation overseas based on “market principles, international rules and host country laws”.

At the same time, China readdressed continuing accusations of spying back to Washington, emphasizing the continued American global surveillance efforts and citing the NSA’s PRISM program.

“It is the United States that has been conducting massive cyber theft all over the world, even on its allies, since PRISM came out. It is a real empire of hacking and theft. The world can see through the US trick of smearing others and beautifying itself,” said the spokesperson at a press conference.

Source: Agencies