Necessary Warning

The United States’ decision to criminally charge five high-ranking Chinese military officials for spying on several American industries represents a serious warning from Washington to Beijing. It’s also an unprecedented step in the cybernetic conflict that both countries are waging. According to the United States Department of Justice, the hackers, who belong to a special unit of the Chinese army charged specifically with these activities, had broken into the computer systems of private companies in the nuclear energy sector, the steel sector and the aluminum sector, among others. The Chinese soldiers, whose chances of going on trial in the United States is remote, had also pirated a syndicate’s computers.

With this measure, the Obama administration is sending China a message: that they are not only committed to defending information and strategic infrastructures that are susceptible to cyber-attacks—such as nuclear centers, reservoirs or high tension lines. Cyber defense also affects private American companies that—like other Western companies—in the past few years have witnessed an uninterrupted and unpunished series of thefts of technology, ideas and investments that have been difficult to shine a light on. It should be noted that China has achieved world dominance in some cutting-edge industries, such as the production of solar panels, through copying original designs and manufacturing at very low cost, violating the ground rules of international commerce. This aggressive strategy has meant the disappearance of numerous industries in other countries and the subsequent loss of jobs.

This is what explains the United States’ reaction: the economic consequences of economic espionage—especially when it’s carried out by government institutions like the Chinese army—within its own borders. The administration wants to portray itself as being sensible in the face of companies’ growing discontent at seeing how the results of their investments in research and development cross the Pacific and become their competition frighteningly quickly.

Beijing has reacted by summoning the American ambassador and calling Washington’s posturing “hypocritical.l” In the end, everyone spies on everyone in any field, and China reminds us that the recent international espionage scandals have all directly involved the government of the United States.

Inevitably, military espionage, as old as society itself, will continue to exist and to be a silent, hidden conflict. It’s necessary, however, to draw the line for China, showing them that the theft of civil technology by a government will put them on the outside of the international commerce game and its benefits.