Updated

China says it will take steps to protect its data better in the wake of allegations that the U.S. National Security Agency collected millions of phone records of European citizens and spied on its allies.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying says China is concerned by the recently exposed surveillance activities and is closely monitoring the situation.

She said at a daily news briefing Wednesday that China would "take necessary measures to resolutely uphold our own information security."

Hua would not comment on whether China does the same thing as the NSA is accused of.

The head of the NSA defended his organization on Tuesday, saying that the U.S. didn't collect European records and that it was given data by NATO partners as part of a program to protect military interests.