Chinese official slams US cyberspace policies

A former top Chinese military hacking commander on Tuesday accused the United States of having a double standard when it comes to online surveillance.

The speech, made at an Internet security conference in Beijing, highlighted the ongoing differences that remain between the U.S. and China despite a recent cyberspace agreement that both sides said was an important step forward.

{mosads}“America spreads the ideas of democracy widely across the world, but in cyberspace, it’s the opposite,” said Hao Yeli, the former deputy head the Chinese military department responsible for offensive digital warfare, according to The New York Times’ translation of the speech.

During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington last week, the U.S. and China agreed to a “common understanding” not conduct or sponsor the digital theft of intellectual property or corporate secrets.

“The United States continuously maintains a system to monitor the rest of the world, but asks other countries to strictly control themselves and remain within bounds,” said Hao, currently the deputy director of the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy. “This unsymmetrical line of thinking continues.”

Cyberspace has been a continual source of friction in the occasionally tense U.S.-China relationship.

The White House has been threatening to sanction China for hacking the U.S. private sector, but recently backed off when China agreed to a “common understanding” that neither side would conduct or support the digital theft of intellectual property.

But the agreement does not bar hacking into government networks.

The Obama administration has privately blamed Beijing for orchestrating the recent cyberattacks at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which exposed over 20 million federal workers’ sensitive data.

Despite pressure to respond to the attacks, administration officials have essentially said the cyber theft was a legitimate intelligence espionage target, similar to espionage work the U.S. conducts.

But an ongoing problem, experts say, is that Beijing officials also see commercial espionage as central to the country’s national security, making it also a legitimate intelligence espionage target in their eyes.

The topic came up in a Capitol Hill hearing Tuesday, as the Senate Subcommittee on East Asia, The Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy delved into the U.S.-China relationship.

“They see economic development as critical to national security,” said Christopher Johnson, a China policy expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in response to a question from Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), who chairs the subcommittee.

“We do have to monitor this issue for blurring,” he added.

Hao emphasized that international rules around cyberspace behavior would be difficult because they don’t map directly to the rules used for other types of warfare.

“Because of the complexities and uncertainties of cyberspace, many of the rules of engagement applied normally would be difficult to directly follow,” she said.

The message somewhat undercuts the Obama administration’s ongoing attempt to work with China on developing international cyber norms. The effort was a major focus during Xi’s state visit.

“We will explore the formulation of appropriate state, behavior and norms of the cyberspace,” Xi said in a joint press conference Friday.