A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Monday condemned an article by Bill Gertz in the Washington Times, saying it besmirched China's image and spread the "China threat" fallacy.

Gertz claimed in the article that recent cases showed "China's government uses people who study advanced technology in the United States to infiltrate US companies to gain access to sensitive information."

Spokesman Kong Quan said Gertz often wrote groundless articles to smear China and spread the "China threat" fallacy, which not only violated journalistic ethics, but failed in winning credit among the readers.

Kong also announced Romanian President Ion Iliescu will pay a state visit to China from Aug. 19 to 26 at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao.
 
(Source: Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2003)