China Warns Google: Stop Being 'Political Tool'

China is not happy with Google. A front-page editorial in a Communist party newspaper accuses the search giant of "trying to provoke a new dispute between China and the US" through its suggestions that recent Gmail hacking attacks on US officials originated in China. "Google should not become overly embroiled in international political struggle, playing the role of a tool for political contention," the editorial continues.

Though Google has not directly accused the Chinese government of staging the attacks, it did trace them to Jinan. The editorial says those "accusations" are "spurious, have ulterior motives, and bear malign intentions," and that Google has no evidence for its "slander," the Telegraph reports. It also includes a vague warning: "When the international winds shift direction," Google "may become sacrificed to politics and will be spurned by the marketplace." (More Google China attack stories.)