"China's policy on Internet safety is transparent and consistent," the unnamed spokesman said, adding Beijing is keen to cooperate more with other countries on cyber security.

"China is the biggest victim country of hacking," the spokesman said.

Last year, more than 1 million IP addresses in China were attacked from overseas and more than 42,000 websites were targeted by hackers, the highest in the world.

According to the Internet Society of China, the number of cyber attacks from abroad saw a year-on-year increase of 148 percent in 2008.

Also yesterday, an SCIO spokesman said Internet regulation in the country is legitimate and should not be subject to "unjustifiable interference".

Regulation aims to "build a more reliable, helpful information network that is beneficial to economic and social development", he said on condition of anonymity.

Banning information which incites subversion of State power, violence or terrorism, or includes pornographic content, has nothing to do with the claims of "restrictions on Internet freedom", the spokesperson stressed.

People's Daily also criticized in an editorial the US' "so-called free press", saying what Washington calls free speech is "naked political scheming".