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SYDNEY - United States President George W. Bush may confront China's leader in Sydney over computer hacking raids on the Pentagon, the German Chancellery and Whitehall.
Mr Bush hinted he may raise the hacking row, which has the potential to compromise US security, with Chinese President Hu Jintao when they meet at the Apec summit.
Mr Bush, who is in Australia for a summit of 21 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum leaders, was responding to a question about a British newspaper report which alleged the Chinese military had hacked into Pentagon computers, possibly stealing classified documents.
"I'm very aware that a lot of our systems are vulnerable to cyber attack from a variety of places," the President said at a joint news conference with Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
"In terms of whether or not I'll bring this up with countries from which we suspect there may have been an attack, I may," said Mr Bush, who did not identify China. Mr Bush and Mr Hu are scheduled to hold bilateral talks in Sydney today.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters in Beijing that the Pentagon hacking claim, published in London's Financial Times on Monday, was groundless.
She said China was opposed to internet crime and was committed to strengthening co-operation with other countries to counter it.
The Financial Times report said the Pentagon was still investigating how much information was stolen, but cited an unnamed person as saying that most of it was probably unclassified.
The Guardian newspaper in London yesterday reported that Chinese hackers had launched online assaults against computer networks in the British Parliament and the Foreign Office. The Guardian cited anonymous Government officials.
Chinese attackers have launched online assaults against the network at Britain's Parliament and the Foreign Office, the Guardian said, citing unnamed Government officials.
It added that some of the hackers were believed to be from the Chinese military.
The British Government refused to comment on the claim.
The report marks the third time in two weeks that China's military has been accused of hacking into foreign governments' computers.
The Financial Times reported that the Chinese People's Liberation Army hacked into a computer system in the office of US Defence Secretary Robert Gates in June, citing unnamed officials.
The attack forced officials to take down the network for more than a week, the paper said.
On the eve of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to Beijing last month, the weekly Der Spiegel said computers at the Chancellery and three ministries had been infected with so-called Trojans, or spy programs.
The spyware had transmitted data to China.
The report said Germany's domestic intelligence agency believed a group of hackers associated with the People's Liberation Army might have been to blame.
Meanwhile, police yesterday warned a violent, full-scale riot is "probable" when up to 20,000 anti-Apec protesters march on central Sydney on Saturday.
NSW's top riot squad officer, Chief Superintendent Stephen Cullen, told a Sydney court he was braced for the worst violence of his career.
Protesters have vowed not to back down on their plan to walk to the edge of police lines on Saturday, despite the police commissioner yesterday winning a court order banning them from doing so.
"Police lines will come under attack and a full-scale riot is probable," Mr Cullen, commander of the Public Order and Riot Squad, told the hearing in the NSW Supreme Court.
"Based upon my research, experience, current intelligence and evidence from internationally similar events - more recently G20 in Melbourne - I have absolutely no doubt that minority groups will engage in a level of violence not previously experienced in Sydney."
Up to 20,000 people are expected to gather in Sydney's CBD to march against war, global warming and a host of other concerns.
- Agencies
