Yang is the highest-level Chinese official so far to respond to the criticism surrounding Chinese hackers attacking U.S. computer systems, which was confirmed by Alexandria, Va. based internet security firm Mandiant last month a Washington Post piece saying they traced a host of cyber attacks to an IP address in Shanghai.

FORBES: China Calls For End To 'Cyber War'

If Twitter complies with the request, prosecutors wouldn't just gain access to Harris' tweets (which were public but have since been deleted), they would get a host of other information stored by Twitter that could be used as evidence in the case, such as Harris' IP address, e-mail address and location information at the time of the incident.

CNN: Heather Kelly,