BEIJING -- China firmly opposes the groundless accusations made by the United States, and urges the US to immediately stop its wrongdoing of abusing sanctions, foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Thursday.

Lin made the remarks at a daily press briefing when asked to comment on the fact that the United States has indicted 12 Chinese nationals, accusing them for a series of hacking attacks.

Lin noted that last December, Chinese cybersecurity agency exposed two latest cases of cyberattacks against Chinese high-tech companies from the US intelligence community.

"The US is the No 1 'hacking empire' in the world," Lin said, adding that its practice reflects hypocritical double standards and is a typical move of "thief-crying-stop-thief."