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May 7th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
The decision to turn up the diplomatic heat on Beijing over its use of
cyber-espionage represents a change of tactics in Washington this year where
diplomats say that for years they have made behind-the-scenes diplomatic
representations to the China over the hacking issue.
“We either get flat denials or they shrug, as if to say all governments are
involved in this kind of thing, so live with it,” was how one senior
diplomatic characterised the usual Chinese response, adding there was a new
determination to confront Beijing over the issue.
As well increasing public pressure, the Obama administration has signaled its
determination to bolster the US’s own defences against cyber-spying and
cyber-attack, asking Congress for a 21pc increase in Pentagon cyber security
budgets this year.
The threat — and not just from China — was highlighted this week as a band of
hackers, grouped under the hastag #OpUsa, promised widespread attacks
yesterday on US government websites, in reprisal it said, for US foreign
policy in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
While China talks of “mutual trust”, the Pentagon report highlighted the US’s
own long-standing concerns about China’s lack of transparency as it builds a
military commensurate with its newfound status as an emerging superpower.
In March China announced a 10.7 percent increase in official military spending
to $114 billion, although actual defending spending for 2012 is estimated to
range between $135 billion and $215 billion — though still less than half
the US defense spending of more than $500 billion.
“What concerns me is the extent to which China’s military modernization occurs
in the absence of the type of openness and transparency that others are
certainly asking of China,” said David Helvey, deputy assistant secretary of
defense for East Asia, at a Pentagon briefing on the report.
Earlier this year Bloomberg reported that hackers linked to China’s military
had compromised “most if not all” of the computers belonging to QinetiQ
North America, which produces spy satellites.
That report followed the publication of research by Mandiant, an US
cybersecurity contractor, which said it had traced attacks against 140
mostly American companies to a Chinese military unit in Shanghai.
The problem is not confined to the US, with another report this year alleging
that the European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co. EADS and Germany’s
largest steelmaker, ThyssenKrupp, had also been hacked by China.
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