China has denied claims that hackers infiltrated The New York Times newspaper editorial department. Following the publication of an article, which looked into the family wealth of the newly elected Premier Wen Jiabao.

This Chinese foreign ministry spokesman speaking here at a news conference said the allegations were groundless. He said

"According to some investigative results, which showed no proof, and had groundless evidence and baseless conclusion, China had participated in online attacks. That is a totally irresponsible conclusion. China is also a victim of online attacks. China's laws clearly ban online attacks."

But some may say, using the now famous quote from the Profumo affair, 'of course they would say that'. However, the New York Times said, they had found evidence, that the hackers stole the corporate passwords for every Times employee, and, used those to gain access to the personal computers of 53 employees, most of them outside The Times' newsroom. They also added the hackers also broke into the e-mail accounts of Shanghai bureau chief, David Barboza, who wrote the story on Wen's family, and Jim Yardley, the paper's South Asia bureau chief in India who was previously the Beijing bureau chief.

So no doubt this story is sure to run on for a while yet. I'm Ann Salter thanks for watching. Stay tuned for the latest news and updates with me at ibtimes.co.uk

Written and presented by Ann Salter