Building a Strong Network Is the Best Retaliation against US Network Hegemony

It has been more than a week since the U.S. Department of Justice indicted five of our military personnel. The event is still developing. After the first few days of observation, some American officials have asked to “continue the pressure” on China and let it be known that they would refuse to give visas to Chinese hackers for the U.S.-based global hacker conference this summer. American media and think tanks have also made a lot of moves with an emphasis on analyzing Chinese reactions. Since China has already stopped its China-U.S. network team’s activities, some American experts have also asked to maintain an expert dialogue channel and exchange comments in an unofficial capacity.

China has firmly retaliated against American provocation, surprising the Americans. Domestic research institutes, experts and the media have all spoken up, especially in light of the recent NSA eavesdropping scandal, which has effectively revealed America’s severe human rights violations and its despicable behavior in harming global security. Some of the recently unveiled or potential management policies have also been interpreted as counteraction toward the U.S. Some Chinese have even advocated to end verbal protests and public opinion retaliations — they thought it was time for “an eye for an eye” and to indict American officials involved in PRISM, or maybe even arrest American spies.

After the quick battle, the whole event has entered into a crucial stage. As long as the Americans do not withdraw their indictment, we need to maintain our retaliation against them. Even more importantly, we should think of our next steps: What do we want? What should we do?

“Revenge” is not the way. When someone takes revenge, it is for relief, to dole out punishment, or to establish authority. As important as they may be, they lack in tactics. While it is no longer an era of “no hitting back,” and the Internet is not a space for bullying, the struggles between major nations are not a street fight. Ancient wisdom said that national affairs need room, balance and restraint. Our real concern is how our core technologies and important systems are dependent on others; how can arresting a few people solve anything? Revenge begins in anger and ends with reason. It is wise to act considering the situation, to try to use our reasoning abroad, and to utilize international rules, which is by itself an important struggle. Americans plot every step of their way, with their reports and public opinions, their building of “evidence,” and using their judicial system; they are trying to find out our strength and force us to show our hand. This is the best way to find intel we have spent years to attain from the outset.

“Building our foundation” is the key. Revenge is a matter of degree; it is not about non-action, it is not about being an ostrich, it is about finding out the core problem and improving one’s own strength. Counteraction is only a defensive move. The best level to be in is not being controlled by anyone else. If one is weak and riddled with problems, counteraction is a joke. It would be a foolhardy demonstration and fails to solve anything. In the same week, our official press has reported the government’s banning of Windows 8 and a new network security inspection system. On Monday came the news that state enterprises are not allowed to use American consulting services and other regulations. The Chinese are overjoyed, but Westerners are worried. I believe the announcements of these policies were partly a coincidence and partly accelerated due to the American indictment. These policies are not counteractions toward America, but for protecting China’s own national interests. Just think of all the important policies meant to remedy national network security flaws: If they have not been fixed before, and if they were just unveiled for retaliation, would they really be important? Can they really protect us? Do we really have a long-term system? We cannot belittle these important measures for protecting our national network security and national security.

“Building a strong network” is our future. President Xi Jinping outlined the grand blueprint for building a strong network at the Central Network Security and Informational Leadership Meeting. To understand it and to realize it — taking counteraction — is the only way to get out of the trap of being controlled and ending up even more hamstrung. One, we need to have strong technology that is independent and advanced; two, we need to have rich content and a robust and growing network culture; three, we need to have a strong foundation, a healthy infrastructure for information technology from which to grow a powerful information economy; four, we need to have good talent to build a high quality team with network security and information-age skills; five, we need to grow our international influence, to actively participate in international collaborations, and to protect our national security and development interests.