Senior Chinese figures were behind the hacking of Google earlier this year, BBC reports Sunday, citing one the latest US diplomatic cables released by the whistle-blowing site WikiLeaks.

One cable cites a "well-placed" contact, whose name was deleted from the cable, saying the action against Google was "100% political" over the anger of a high-ranking Communist functionary who used googled his name and found critical comments online. It is, however, unclear whether China's top leaders, such as President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, were involved in the hacking.

The source further refutes earlier claims the hacking was an attempt to reduce Google's influence in China in favor of domestic search engines, such as Baidu.

Other cables show Beijing has been "extremely concerned" about the use of high-resolution satellite imagery on Google's mapping software, Google Earth.

In January, Google said it had been subjected to a "sophisticated cyber attack originating from China" with e-mail accounts of human rights activists being among those hacked. Google refused to remove the "offensive" link and decided to quit mainland China and move its Chinese-language operations to Hong Kong.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton then urged China to fully investigate the hacking allegations.

"Countries or individuals that engage in cyber attacks should face consequences and international condemnation," she said.

As WikiLeaks began publishing in tranches a large amount of classified US diplomatic documents last week, China blocked access to the whistle-blowing site on its entire territory.

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