China's People's Daily stokes Google hacking tensions

China's state run newspaper the People's Daily has slammed Google for linking the country to hacking attacks on its networks.

It said the company, once the champion of openness, had "betrayed the spirit of the internet" and has slandered the country.

Google said a hacking attack on its Gmail service last week originated in Jinan, where the Chinese Government's intelligence division is located.

The company stopped short of blaming the Chinese Government for the attacks.

The article, published in the front page of the overseas edition of the paper and written by the newspaper's editor, said Google was at risk of being spurned by the market.

It said attacks on the company were inevitable.

"The disorder on the internet, corporate espionage, hackers abound ... cyber attacks [on Google] are inevitable," the paper said, according to a translation.

The attack against Google last week targeted hundreds of Gmail users including US Government officials, Chinese political activists and journalists, Google said in a blog post.

In January last year, Google detailed a sophisticated attack against its network which hit several other high profile companies, later known as Operation Aurora.

The search giant said the attacks originated from China, and the government denied involvement.

Google later pulled its China search and relocated to Hong Kong.