Cisco denies aiding Chinese Internet crackdown

By Peter Kaplan

WASHINGTON, May 20 (Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O) on Tuesday denied allegations by a human rights activist who said the company had given Chinese authorities technical help in their efforts to censor the Internet. Appearing at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Cisco's general counsel fended off criticism that stemmed from a 2002 document outlining a presentation by a Cisco engineer in China.

"We disavow the implication that this reflects in any way Cisco's views or objectives," Cisco General Counsel Mark Chandler said.

The document, a PowerPoint presentation that discussed Chinese government efforts to monitor the Internet, was cited by an official with the Global Internet Freedom Consortium as evidence that Cisco had offered to teach Chinese authorities how to use its equipment to censor the Internet.

The presentation from Cisco's Beijing office listed a handful of goals of the Chinese government, including cracking down on the banned spiritual group Falun Gong.

Shiyu Zhou, the consortium's deputy director, said the fight against Internet censorship "has been a lonely battle thus far and we are tired of having to fight our fellow American companies."

The criticism comes as Cisco is trying to step up sales efforts in China, where it competes with Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL] as well as its U.S. rival Juniper Networks Inc JNPR.O.

China accounts for the largest portion of Cisco sales in the Asia-Pacific region. Asia accounts for 11 percent of total sales.