BEIJING, May 20 -- The United States on Monday plunged itself into blatant hypocrisy as it slapped some fabricated cyber-espionage charges against five Chinese military officers.

The baseless accusation against the Chinese personnel of hacking into U.S. companies to steal trade secrets for Chinese state-owned firms is a telling indictment of Washington's double standard on cyber-security.

Beijing is a steadfast defender of cyber-security. As Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang has reiterated, the Chinese government and military have never engaged in cyber theft of trade secrets.

Washington's deliberate fabrication, behind which there is likely to be a hidden agenda, grossly violates the basic norms governing international relations and jeopardizes China-U.S. cooperation and mutual trust.

And that is not all there is to it. Washington's pressing of the groundless cyber-spying charges is also a typical case of a thief crying thief.

As has become undeniably substantiated, the sole superpower in the world is easily the biggest eavesdropper on the planet, with Washington sitting at the core of a global network of organized website-hacking and telephone-tapping.

In Washington's world-wide wiretapping web, China is a major victim. Publicly available information shows that U.S. spooks have long been targeting Chinese government organs, institutions, enterprises and individuals.

The U.S. sprawling spying scheme has shocked the international community and drawn vehement condemnation. Up till now it still refuses to offer China and the world at large a thorough explanation.

In face of Washington's hypocritic indictment of late, China needs to respond. Suspending the operations of a bilateral group on cyber affairs is a reasonable start, but more countermeasures should be prepared in case Washington obstinately sticks to the wrong track.

It is advisable and imperative that Washington immediately withdraw the made-up charges against the Chinese officers and return to the course of dialogue and cooperation.

Otherwise, it should take full responsibility for the consequences of the farce that features itself as a robber playing cop.