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China worried US cyber strategy 'ups the ante on the internet arms race'
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China’s defence ministry expressed concern on Thursday over the Pentagon’s updated cyber strategy, which stresses the US military’s ability to retaliate with cyber weapons, saying this would only worsen tension over internet security.
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The ministry also rebuffed a senior US official who cast doubt on China’s plans to hold a military parade in September to mark the end of the second world war.
The Pentagon’s new cyber strategy presents a potentially far more muscular role for the US military’s cyber warriors than the Pentagon was willing to acknowledge in its last strategy rollouts in 2011, and singles out threats from Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
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China is frequently accused by the US and its allies of engaged in widespread hacking attacks, charges Beijing always vociferously denies.
Defence ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said that as the world’s most technologically advanced nation when it came to the internet, the US was only worsening tension over cybersecurity with its new strategy.
“This will further exacerbate contradictions and up the ante on the internet arms race. We are concerned and worried about this,” Geng said.
The US should stop blackening China’s name when it came to cybersecurity, and was in any case hypocritical in its criticism because of the US National Security Agency’s Prism snooping programme, he added.
The militaries of the world’s two largest economies have had a rocky relationship despite efforts by both sides to improve ties. Geng also took aim at recent drills between the United States and the Philippines in the South China Sea, a strategic waterway 90% of which is claimed by China.
Large-scale drills will only create tension and are not helpful for regional peace and stability, he said.
“In the present situation,” he said, “with the holding of such large-scale drills, we have to ask, who is it really who is creating regional tensions, and who is it really threatening regional peace and stability?”
Regarding China’s planned September parade to mark the anniversary of the end of the second world war, President Obama’s top Asia adviser, Evan Medeiros, told Asian media in Washington this week he had questions about whether a large military parade would really send a signal of reconciliation or promote healing.
“We want for the region to get past it so the region can realise its full potential as a driver of global growth, for example,” Medeiros said, according to a transcript provided by the State Department.
“So when we think about these history questions and when we think about this ceremony in China, these are the kinds of considerations that we’re looking at.”
In response, Geng said that history must be remembered if it was not to be repeated.
“The remarks by the relevant US official are wrong. If we don’t face up to history, then we may end up repeating the mistakes of the past and replaying the tragedies of history,” Geng said.
There was nothing unusual about holding a military parade to mark the anniversary, and no reason to criticise it, he added.
“Our aim is to always remember history, cherish the memory of the martyrs, value peace and look to the future, to show the determination and ability of China and all other peoples to defend world peace.”
The parade will be President Xi Jinping’s first since he took over as Communist Party leader and military chief in late 2012 and as state president in early 2013. Diplomats have said that Xi could be left standing on the stage in September with few top western officials, with governments concerned about a range of issues, including the expected presence of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
