Chinese Media Suggest N.S.A. Disclosure Will Hurt U.S. Ties
By GERRY MULLANY and DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW
Published: June 13, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/14/world/asia/chinese-media-suggest-nsa-disclosure-will-hurt-us-ties.html
“The massive U.S. global surveillance program revealed by a former C.I.A. whistle-blower in Hong Kong is certain to stain Washington’s overseas image and test developing Sino-U.S. ties,” said an article in the state-run China Daily that cited analysts. The newspaper quoted Li Haidong, a researcher of American studies at China Foreign Affairs University, as warning of the impact of the revelations on U.S.-Chinese relations.
“For months, Washington has been accusing China of cyberespionage, but it turns out that the biggest threat to the pursuit of individual freedom and privacy in the U.S. is the unbridled power of the government,” Mr. Li was quoted as saying.
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One U.S. intelligence employee, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the two situations — China’s stealing of trade and military secrets and N.S.A. surveillance to track possible terrorist attacks — are not comparable, calling them “apples and oranges.”
“I can tell you with absolute certainty the U.S. government does not pass on technological secrets obtained through (strictly speaking, as a byproduct of) espionage to U.S. firms, both as a matter of principle and because there is no fair way to do it,” he wrote in answer to an e-mailed question.
“I recall some senior bureaucrat proposing this some two decades ago — and he got nowhere,” he wrote, “none of the agencies wanted anything to do with it.”
“China, by contrast, deliberately targets foreign technology for military and commercial purposes,” he wrote, “so this is apples and oranges. But in the propaganda war, that fact won’t matter.”
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