BEIJING, (Reuters) – China yesterday rejected a  report suggesting it may be involved in using computer networks  to spy on exiled Tibetans and foreign governments, accusing its  authors of being possessed by “the ghost of the Cold War”.

China has been repeatedly accused of using the Internet to  secretly enter computer networks abroad to carry out sabotage  and gather intelligence, and it has repeatedly denied such  claims.

A report from the Toronto-based Munk Center for  International Studies in Toronto said at least 1,295 computers  in 103 countries were breached by the spying, which it said was  based in China but could not be definitively linked to the  government.

A spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry dismissed such  claims as rumour and said his government was committed to  protecting Internet security.  “Nowadays the problem is that there are some people abroad  avidly concocting rumours about China’s so-called Internet  espionage,” spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news briefing.

“There’s a ghost abroad called the Cold War and a virus  called the China threat,” Qin continued, breaking into  English-language phrases to make his meaning clear. “People possessed by the ghost of the Cold War constantly  issue this China threat virus.”

Among the sites infiltrated from China were embassies,  foreign ministries and government offices, especially across  southeast and south Asia, and the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan exile  centres, the Canadian researchers said in the report released  at the weekend.