Just a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made a speech which denounced Internet censorship, China fired back saying the U.S. is ruining ties between the two countries.

In a statement posted online, Ma Zhaoxu, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said that the criticism dished out by Clinton was “harmful to Sino-American relations and asked the U.S. “to respect the truth and to stop using the so-called Internet freedom question to level baseless accusations.”

The U.S. has criticized China's policies to administer the Internet and insinuated that China restricts Internet freedom...This runs contrary to the facts and is harmful to China-U.S. relations, according to the statement.

“The Chinese Internet is open,” he said.

Zhaoxu fought back by emphasizing that Chinese laws forbid Internet hacking and violation of privacy. China encourages cracking down on Internet hacking by strengthening international cooperation and protecting Internet security and citizen privacy according to the laws.

During Clinton's speech in Washington on Thursday, she said that the Internet is critical to foreign policy, and those who engage in cyber attacks should face international condemnation.

We stand for a single Internet, where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas, Clinton said.

She also spoke of China, saying that we look to the Chinese authorities to conduct a thorough review of the activities that led Google to make its announcements.

China