The government of the United States seems to be trying to convince people that it isn’t spying on everybody. As part of the effort, the authorities recently arrested some Chinese officials and accused them of hacking.


Taking into account the fact that the National Security Agency was caught a week ago opening the boxes of Cisco routers with the intent to install spyware, it really looks like the arrests of the Chinese are supposed to distract the American press and allow the US to pretend to be a victim.

The US authorities charged 5 Chinese military officers and accused them of cracking American nuclear, metal and solar corporations in attempt to steal trade secrets, thus ratcheting up tensions between the world powers over online espionage. Of course, China denied the charges, with its Foreign Ministry claiming that the American grand jury indictment was simply “made up” and could damage trust between the nations.

In response, US Attorney General claimed that China used military and intelligence resources and tools against the US companies to get access to trade secrets or sensitive business information for the benefit of its state-owned companies. The alleged victims had filed unfair trade claims against their competitors from China, which allowed Washington to link the hacking activity with its impact on international business.

The United States insist that Chinese state-owned companies somehow “hired” Unit 61398 of the People’s Liberation Army for provision of “information technology services”, which also involved assembling a database of corporate intelligence. The US security experts believe that the US Department of Justice is a step forward to establishing a set of international norms to regulate cyber espionage. The problem is that a clear international legal framework only applies to attacks that damage physical infrastructure or can harm people. Spying activity is largely unregulated.

The experts pointed out that part of addressing this problem is setting standards for what is and is not an acceptable target for online spying. Some believe that it could prompt a dialog about International norms in this area, which could appear an important part of coming to grips with the impact that cyber security issues are having on the societies all over the world.