Google-China – Is “leaving China” a Whistle for a “Cyber War”?

Since the announcement of “A New Approach to China” by David Drummond (Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer of Google Inc) on January 12, 2010, the incident is not merely a commercial one, but is upgraded as a whistle for a “Cyber War” in a fortnight!

Apart from the possible “Cyber War”, it also ignites again the crisis of the diplomatic relationship between China and the USA just within two weeks. It is interesting to note that USA is making this incident more juicy and spicy while China remains silent!

When Hilary Clinton, US Secretary of State made an announcement of the same during her official visit at South Pacific on January 21, 2010, it indicates that the trust on cyber territories between China and the USA is collapsing. Furthermore, it is developed into a “Presidential level” when Barack Obama expressed that he is “troubled” about Google-China is being “cyber attacked” and he “wants answers”!

Even the Office of the United States Trade Representative (?????) is considering to lodge a complaint to World Trade Organization (“WTO”) about China’s intervening the cyber limitation which is violating the international trading ordinances.

One of the major differences in their approaches is, possibly that there is a huge variation on the definition of “cyber privacy concept” between China and the USA.

There are many USA enterprises which are establishing their offices in China, for instance, the garment industry, the luxury brands and the pharmaceutical products. If Google-China is to withdraw from the territory, it may be a “green light” for other corporations as these industries require a high degree of intellectual property rights (“IP rights”).

Comparing with other hot issues like human rights, Tibet, sale of military weapon to Taiwan etc., this particular “cyberattack” seems playing a more essential role for USA enterprises to leave China. As a majority of Chinese are concerned about their “face” issues, the USA could take this incident as a “stepping from the stage”, i.e. to provide a good chance for those corporations to leave China in a graceful manner.

Furthermore, as quoted from an article “In Digital Combat, US finds no easy Deterrent” of New York Times on 25 January 2010,

“ … After that, the trail disappeared into a cloud of angry Chinese government denials, and then an ugly exchange of accusations between Washington and Beijing. That continued Monday, with Chinese assertions that critics were trying to “denigrate China” and that the United States was pursuing “hegemonic domination” in cyberspace. These recent events demonstrate how quickly the nation’s escalating cyberbattles have outpaced the rush to find a deterrent, something equivalent to the cold-war-era strategy of threatening nuclear retaliation. …”

You may see the original article here.

Dramatically, Barack Obama has announced their coming decision of the sale of military weapon to Taiwan in a high profile, which is after the last sale from President George Bush in 2008. At the same time, with the recent state-visit of Taiwan President Ma Ying-Jeou to Central America, the diplomatic relationship among China, Taiwan and the USA will draw more attention from the world-stage.