Chinese Troops Must Take Up 'Legal Arms' Against 'Pretentious' U.S. (Huanqiu,
China)
Has China been 'too reserved' about naming and
shaming American spies? As part of the Chinese government response to cyber
espionage accusations by the U.S. Justice Department against five Chinese
military officers, the state-run Haunqiu is encouraging the five men, and
others who feel aggrieved by U.S. accusations and espionage, to come forward
and sue the U.S. government in Chinese court for 'defamation and threats
against their person,' and demand compensation.
According to U.S. cyber research company Mandiant, this nondescript Shanghai building houses 'Unit 61398', a secretive Chinese military unit that has been hacking U.S. enterprises and government agencies. Beijing denies the charges. With this latests round U.S.-China cyber accusations, who has the upper hand?
The
U.S. Department of Justice last week announced the criminal indictments of five
Chinese army officers, claiming that they helped Chinese companies steal American
corporate business information, and that all five are from "Unit 61398"
of the People's Liberation Army. Since February last year, the U.S.
government has accused the unit "headquartered in Shanghai" of being
part of a "hacker army" involved in the long-term theft of U.S. trade
secrets.
The
FBI announced the names of the officers with their mug shots on an "FBI wanted"
poster [see below]. The Wall Street
Journal stated in an article,
"the indictment may act instead as a public effort to name and shame the
suspects." The newspaper made no mention of whether Washington was taking
the opportunity to try and discredit China before
the CICA Summit [Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures
in Asia.]
The
48-page
indictment providing details of the officers looks "serious." Yet
as revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the country making the
allegations is the one doing the spying both home and abroad as part of its "PRISM"
program operated by the National Security Agency (NSA). Global opinion has
already condemned Washington, rendering its pretentious accusations ridiculous.
Claims
by the U.S. government that Chinese soldiers have gathered U.S. business
intelligence in any organized fashion are unimaginable to us. It is news to us
that China's military has such a close relationship to civilian companies.
There
is near global consensus that the United States is the leading intelligence
power, and that with the Internet, it is engaged in unrestricted intelligence
gathering. Snowden has confirmed this to the world. By collecting information
overseas while simultaneously dressing itself up as the victim of hacking, Washington
has reacquainted the world with the meaning of the phrase "intelligence
superpower."
Based
on the Snowden materials, the United States has hacked into the backbone of
China's networks, universities, government agencies, and other organs. The
United States has apparently failed to
grasp the seriousness of the situation. The White House still owes Beijing an
apology. Interpol should have immediately ordered the designers and
implementers of the PRISM program arrested - but did not. Now, by posting photos
of the five Chinese officers, the U.S. is showing is has no shame.
By
directly indicting active-duty Chinese officers, it appears that Washington has
mistaken its own domestic law for law applicable to all of humanity. With its
so-called "evidence" and by issuing "wanted" posters that
have their names and photos, the United States has severely infringed on their
human rights.
The
awareness of Chinese about enforcing their rights is relatively low, but we
believe these five men should take up legal arms to defend their reputations.
We suggest that the five sue the U.S. government in China for defamation and
threats against their person, and demand compensation. We hope they have the
courage to do so, that the leadership supports them when they do, that China's
courts accept the case, that U.S. Justice Department officials are summoned,
and that the accused are ultimately found innocent.
This
time, China must not tolerate America's malignant accusations. Announcing the
suspension of the China-U.S. Cyber Working Group, the Foreign Ministry made the
right call, but further action should be taken.
The United States has
indicted the above officers of the People's
Liberation Army for
crimes related to cyber espionage. Unfortunately,
as far as Beijing and
much of the world is concerned, the U.S. lacks
the standing to look like
anything other than hypocritical.
Beijing
has released a report on U.S. computer attacks on China's networks, but it
wasn't specific enough, as the individuals responsible weren't named. China
should encourage organizations and individuals whose rights have been infringed to stand up
and sue the United States directly. Since evidence has already been exposed, the
aggrieved parties should be encouraged to go public with the truth about how
the U.S. "pre-installs" backdoors into our domestic computers and put
an end to U.S. thievery.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
Chinese
are too reserved, and in the past when encountering difficulties, have taken
into account the overall impact on Sino-U.S. relations. When U.S. spies have been
caught, for example, instead of the United States, the words "a
country" have been used, with the result that China has taken a
significant hit in terms of public opinion.
NSA techs perform an
unauthorized 'field upgrade' to Cisco hardware in
these 2010 photos from an
NSA document, from Glenn Greenwald's new
This
time, the United States must we must dish out to the United States what it has
been dishing out to us. Washington must be made to know that although the power
of China's media is less than that of the United States, and that the
elasticity of Chinese society still lags behind that of the U.S., once aroused,
China is not to be taken lightly. In the emerging Sino-U.S. relationship, we cannot
rely on the justness and reliability of the U.S. legal system. In paying the
game with the United States, the U.S. must be made to understand the necessity
of compromise with China.
Regarding
the issue of network security, the United States is a "sophisticated rogue."
We must hold no illusions about the country.
