BEIJING: China has rejected U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's call for China and other nations to lift their restrictions on the Internet, saying it was harmful to relations.

A statement posted on the Foreign Ministry's Web site Friday said Clinton's comments were damaging.

The statement says: "We urge the U.S. side to respect facts and stop using the so-called freedom of the Internet to make unjustified accusations against China."

Clinton's speech elevated Internet freedom to the level of a major facet the U.S. human rights agenda as never before. She urged China to investigate cyber intrusions that led search engine Google to threaten to pull out of that country — and challenged Beijing to openly publish its findings.