HONG KONG, Oct 3, 2008 (AFP) - TOM Group said Friday it adhered to Chinese laws, after security experts revealed the media and Internet firm was archiving politically sensitive messages sent using Skype.

'TOM Group reiterated that as a Chinese company, we adhere to rules and regulations in China where we operate our businesses. We have no other comment,' the Hong Kong-based group said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for TOM Group, which is part of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing's business empire, refused to answer any other questions about its operations, including whether it monitors messages sent in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong operates under a different legal system to the China mainland.

Skype, the online text message and voice service owned by auction giant eBay, acknowledged Thursday that its Chinese partner TOM Online had been archiving politically sensitive text messages.

Citizen Lab, a group of computer security experts at the University of Toronto, revealed that TOM Online was spying on TOM-Skype users in China and collecting messages with specific keywords.

Citizen Lab said the messages, with words such as 'Tibet,' 'Communist Party' or 'Democracy,' contained Internet addresses, usernames and other information which could make the senders and recipients easily identifiable.

Skype president Josh Silverman said in a statement that TOM Online 'just like any other communications company in China, has established procedures to meet local laws and regulations.'

However, Skype said it had been unaware that the sensitive Internet chat was being stored on computer servers by TOM Online.

TOM Group, originally a dot.com start up but now a media and advertising company combined, has increasingly focused on the mainland market.

In 2006, TOM said it removed 40 percent of its mainland website postings on TOM.com, following an order from Beijing to weed out 'harmful' Internet content.

China exercises strict control over the Internet, blocking sites linked to Chinese dissidents, the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement, the Tibetan government-in-exile and those with information on the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.

A number of US companies, including giants Microsoft, Cisco, Google and Yahoo, have been hauled before the US Congress in recent years and accused of complicity in building what has been called the 'Great Firewall of China.'