China's military warned the United States against considering selling fighter jets to Taiwan, telling Washington to "speak and act carefully" and denying the People's Liberation Army played a part in internet hacking.

Huang Xueping, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Defence, yesterday also said his government would not reverse its decision to suspend "bilateral military plans" with Washington after it said in late January that it would sell $6.4 billion of arms to Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own.

In January, the giant internet search company Google Inc threatened to pull back from China after complaining of censorship and hacking attacks on it and other companies.

Analysts said those attacks were sophisticated operations, possibly overseen or abetted by the Chinese military.

The hacking dispute has added to tensions with Washington over quarrels ranging from trade and the Chinese currency to a meeting last week between US President Barack Obama and exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, whom China reviles as a "separatist" for demanding self-rule for his homeland.

Mr Huang's remarks, reported by the official Xinhua news agency, shed no new light on how China plans to act on its threats to punish US companies involved in arms sales to Taiwan. But his comments indicated China has not entirely put aside public ire with Washington, despite allowing a US aircraft carrier to visit Hong Kong last week.

"China demands that the US speak and act cautiously, to avoid causing further damage to relations between the two countries and their militaries," said Mr Huang.

He was answering what Xinhua said was a question about a report prepared for the US Congress released this month that found Taiwan's fighter jets would fall short in combat with China.

Taiwan wants 66 new US-made F-16 fighter jets, but wary of a backlash from Beijing, Washington has put off the request. The new Congress report has been taken up by supporters of the fighter jet proposal as bolstering their case.

Mr Huang also hit back over the internet hacking claims, which made fresh headlines recently after reports that the attacks had been traced to two Chinese schools, and the writer of the spyware used had been identified as a Chinese cyber-security consultant.

"Linking internet hacking activities to the Chinese government and military is totally unfounded and utterly irresponsible," he said. "This is stirring up a fuss for ulterior motives."

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