Clinton to Address China-Google Dispute

China's dispute with Internet giant Google, which is threatening to pull out of the country over concerns about censorship and security, should not be linked to bilateral ties with the United States, a top Chinese official said Thursday.

The comments from Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei come hours before U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is to deliver a speech in Washington on the Obama administration's strategy for protecting freedom on the Internet.

Google said on Jan. 12 that it will remain in China only if the government relents on rules requiring the censorship of content the ruling communist party considers subversive. The ultimatum came after Google said it uncovered a computer attack that tried to plunder its software coding and the e-mail accounts of human rights activists protesting Chinese policies.

CBS News' chief political consultant Marc Ambinder reports that, according to sources, Clinton is expected to highlight the Google dispute with China in her remarks Thursday.

The United States has said it will lodge a formal complaint to Beijing on the alleged hacking attacks.

"The Google case should not be linked with relations between the two governments and countries; otherwise, it's an over-interpretation," China's He told a news conference, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Ambinder reports that the U.S. government, according to his sources, has "solid evidence" that not only was the attack on Google mounted by hackers in China, it was sanctioned by the government.

However, Ambinder points out, as there are seven separate ministries in China which work to regulate cyberspace, U.S. officials aren't sure whether the order for the attack came from senior Chinese leaders, or whether it was mounted independently by an intelligence agency as part of a larger collection plan. What also confuses officials is the dual nature of the targets: some human rights activists with interests in Tibetan politics found their Gmail exploited, but so did large U.S. defense contractors.

The Xinhua report did not mention censorship, instead referring to Google's "disagreements with government policies."

The Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the search giant must obey China's laws and traditions, suggesting it was giving no ground in talks with the company.

"Foreign enterprises in China need to adhere to China's laws and regulations, respect the interests of the general public and cultural traditions and shoulder corresponding responsibilities. Google is no exception," ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a news briefing.

Ambinder also reports that, according to sources with direct knowledge of the U.S. investigation, Google does believe that some of its own employees were working with Chinese intelligence operatives in the hack.

"Figuring out how to discipline them - and investigate the extent of the penetration - is proving incredibly challenging given their locale and their own tensions with Chinese authorities," says Ambinder. The sources, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, tell Ambinder that Google's internal investigation is being assisted by the FBI and NSA.

There have already been aftershocks from Google's announcement. On Tuesday, Google postponed the launch of two mobile phones in China, adding to the potential commercial fallout from the dispute with Beijing.

The delay affects separate phones made by Motorola and Samsung. The handsets are both powered by Android, a mobile operating software system developed by Google. Both phones were scheduled to debut this week, with China Unicom Ltd. serving as the carrier.