We're witnessing round two of the spat between China and Google.
Two weeks after the California based search giant threatened to pull out of the country after finding emails of political activists had been pried into, Beijing is hitting back.
On Monday, the ministry of information said: "Any accusation that the Chinese government participated in cyber attacks, either in an explicit or indirect way, is groundless and aims to discredit China."
It comes just days after Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, called on Beijing to investigate sophisticated cyber-spying and make its findings known.
Clinto said: "Countries or individuals that engage in cyber attacks should face consequences and international condemnation. In an interconnected world, an attack on one nation's networks can be an attack on all.
She also cited Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam as countries where there has been a spike in threats to the free flow of information.
On Monday, the state department was keeping up the pressure on China over Google's concerns.
PJ Crowley, a spokesman for the department, said: "We will continue to promote the free flow of information, unfettered access to information, the ability to have virtual freedom of association, these are all we believe fundamental tenets of the environment that we live in."
According to the Chinese government there are 380 million web users, 3.8 million websites and 180 million blogs in the country.
One of those bloggers is the designer of the national stadium known as the Bird's Nest, Ai Weiwei.
He said: "In China nowadays, the most basic rights such as normal activities involving information, or freedom of speech, are seriously controlled. This control is making it more and more difficult for the public to survive in this time of information."
China says Google is only making a fuss because it's suffering stiff competition from the home-grown internet portal Baido.
It's not clear whether Google will actually carry out its threat to withdraw from China because the country could well be its biggest single market in the not too distant future.
One things for sure - this is a spat that could well turn into a fully-fledged cyber-war over the global flow of information in the second decade of the 21st century.
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