Cisco Systems rejects Falun Gong 'Beijing spy' lawsuit
24 May 2011 Last updated at 04:42 GMT
Falun Gong is banned in China, but tolerated in other Asian countries
Cisco Systems has rejected a lawsuit filed by spiritual group Falun Gong and denied it has colluded with Beijing to repress Chinese citizens.
Falun Gong filed papers last week claiming that Cisco worked on the Golden Shield surveillance network to help Beijing spy on and prosecute it.
The spiritual group says some members had disappeared or been detained, tortured and even killed as a result.
Falun Gong is banned in China, where the government calls it an evil cult.
"Cisco's specific intent to meet the requirements of the Chinese Communist Party's purpose to identify, track and thereby abuse and eliminate Falun Gong practitioners... was expressed in marketing presentations," said the court papers filed in the US.
The suit said that Cisco established a subsidiary, China Network Technology Corporation, in Beijing in 1998 to work with the government.
It alleges that Cisco provided networking equipment and technical assistance to build and operate a system of Internet controls used by the Chinese government to track the public's online behaviour and block content it did not like.
It also names senior Cisco executives, including chief executive John Chambers.
Cisco rejected the allegations in a statement issued from its headquarters in San Jose, California.
"Cisco does not operate networks in China or elsewhere, nor does Cisco customise our products in any way that would facilitate censorship or repression," the company said.
"Cisco builds equipment to global standards which facilitate free exchange of information, and we sell the same equipment in China that we sell in other nations worldwide in strict compliance with US government regulations."
Cisco said the suit was without basis and that the company would defend itself vigorously.
The 52-page suit was brought by the Washington-based Human Rights Law Foundation.
Credit: BBC (www.bbc.co.uk)
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