"Countries or individuals that engage in cyber attacks should face consequences and international condemnation. In an interconnected world, an attack on one nation's networks can be an attack on all," Clinton said.

"Clinton's speech means the government is backing up Google," Yuan said.

Yesterday's speech was Clinton's second statement on the Google case. She already asked China for clarification on Wednesday last week.

Clinton was "looking for more trouble" by giving another speech "to criticize China", said Shi Yinhong, a US-studies expert at the Renmin University of China. Yuan pointed out that the US State Department has "close interaction" with Google, which was the fourth biggest donor to US President Barack Obama's administration.

Obama is actually a "cyber president", said Zhao Kejin, an expert on Sino-US ties at Beijing-based Tsinghua University. "(The US government) is trying to use the case as a political issue to bash China."

Obama has shown a much stronger interest in the cyber world than any of his predecessors. He is the first US president to open a "blog" on the official website of the White House.

"China should have its own e-diplomacy and virtual diplomacy strategy," Zhao said.

Zhao said China should explain clearly what the so-called Internet censorship is, otherwise the US would "equal it" restricting cyber freedom. "We are actually aiming at blocking violence and pornography," Zhao said.