back to article Pentagon: China threatens space and cyberspace

A Pentagon report into Chinese military capability says that the People's Republic "is expanding from the traditional land, air, and sea dimensions of the modern battlefield to include space and cyber-space." The "ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS: Military Power of the People’s Republic of China 2007," was released by the Office of …

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  1. Rick

    Where's Al Gore when you need him

    Where's the inventor of the Internet when you need him to save it. Oh wait he's out making movies...OK so as the report quotes:

    The People's Liberation Army, apparently, "has established information warfare units to develop viruses to attack enemy computer systems and networks."

    So a quick google search on virus stats reveals

    According to Panda Software, over 50% of PCs in India and China, for example are infected with a virus. In the US and the UK, the rate is 35%. All in all, this means that many people still remain without active protection today.

    http://www.liutilities.com/news/articles/article13/

    So if the PRC is out to take down the internet wouldn't be a smart move to cover your computers before you take everyone elses down? Second if PRC is going to send someone to the moon in a decade my thoughts are that they created created the anti satellite technology to get rid of some of the crap that's out there. I mean how can you get out of the house if the garbage is blocking the door?

  2. heystoopid

    But Then Again!

    But then again , this is the self same organization that has told lies at every opportunity since 1945 , told lies about every war since the end of the Korean War , supplied absolute fiction about Israel's '67 war ,South Vietnam , Guatamala , Nicaragua , Argentina , Chile , Iraq 2003, Syria and Iran 2007, to name but a few instances!

    Oh yeah pull the other one , that's for sure!

    The big question here is , what is the left hand really hiding from public view here? , or is it just another case of screw more funds from US taxpayers to fund another expensive no win folly or unuseable military play toy?

    Why would the Chinese really bother , since they are very sucessfully destroying all western industries without firing a shot? ,and our governments are too busy playing god to notice!

  3. Richard

    Ironware citing Boiling Device blackness

    'In it, the US military warns that the Chinese communists are developing new nuclear weapons, spy satellites, anti-spacecraft laser beams and "information warfare units to develop viruses."'

    And meanwhile the US military are doing what? Developing small focussed nukes, spy satellites, Son of Star Wars etc etc.

  4. JP

    Great "Theories"

    "According to the Pentagon, this "poses dangers to human space flight and puts at risk the assets of all space faring nations.""

    At what point does shooting down satellites escalate to shooting down the Shuttle the next time if flies by on a mission?

    And once again, the Yanks are wailing and screaming 'cause some other country wants to have some toys to compete.

  5. Sir Runcible Spoon

    China vs US

    Hmmm, I don't see China invading other countries on flimsy pretexts. Apart from the horror that was Tianneamanandnnd(sp?) square and the constant human rights abuses (which are all aimed at their own people) when was the last time they kill a few hundred thousand citizens of a foreign country? Oh, Tibet..yeah.

    In other words - they are all as bad as each other.

  6. Alex

    Outsourcing(?)

    "Why would the Chinese really bother , since they are very sucessfully destroying all western industries without firing a shot? ,and our governments are too busy playing god to notice!"

    It's called a free market, no one is forcing companies to outsource. it doesn't necessarily save money or improve productivity, It's just that managers are twats for the most part and they need the extra cash for a new boat.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    High-tech

    Next year in the report:

    China has a black hole ray gun, wormhole technology and has already attacked a alien nation on the far side of the moon with special soldiers shooting mind bullets.

    On the point of cyber warfare, if they are so bad, why can't we (Europe and US) start there own cyber soldiers who actively defend and if needed attack other nations. If they have it, we must have it too!

  8. James Anderson

    Why would China bother attacking the USA.

    They already have most of thier money, and own the important bits that the Japanese havent bought already.

    Sounds like a classic " send FUD, cuase media panic and apply for funds" manuover by a defense contractor now all those homeland security freebies are getting scarce.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    FUD as usual

    "And the inscrutable Chinese are also developing an "information warfare" force capable of "computer network attack," to achieve "electromagnetic dominance.""

    First of all.. "electromagnetic dominance"? What have they been sniffing? And developing an "information warfare force" capable of "computer network attack" against the US isn't all that difficult. All you need is to use a windows zero day exploit (as the us army persists that anything that costs THIS much money MUST be good) or even simpler, scan for systems with no password. (I think I can hear the IT personnel at the us army: "Passwords? What do we need passwords for? We paid a lot 'a money for this (so called) OS and we shouldn't need no passwords")

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The satellite attack

    The satellite they shot down oddly coincided with the US derailing the Chinese-backed treaty to ban space weapons. The US declared that they would develop space weapons if they wanted to and exert their influence to see to it nobody else was able to.

    China responded by proving that this claim was based on false information. The US cannot stop anyone developing space weapons.

  11. Scott McMeekin

    What a complete load of bollocks

    Am I the only one who is sick of to the back-teeth with America's bullshit? Honestly. All this pissing and moaning about what the Chinese are doing, what the Iranians are doing... Here's a few suggestions. Stop feckin propping up yer arms industry and start concentrating on stopping your ceasless violation of international law and put the entire CIA and current US administration on trial at the Hague for war crimes. Perhaps if the US stopped acting like the rest of the world is their sex-toy then maybe it would stand a chance of not being so widly hated and reviled.

  12. Gordon Fecyk

    Chinese Feds demand virus samples [from anti-virus vendors] -- The Reg

    How soon El Reg forgets:

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/04/03/chinese_feds_demand_computer_virus/

    "China's Ministry of Public Security has been requiring Western anti-virus vendors to supply samples of malicious code as a condition of doing business with Mainland consumers, the Wall Street Journal reports."

    "By Ted Bridis

    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

    March 30, 2001

    WASHINGTON -- Security officials in Beijing have been requiring that in order to sell their products in China, leading antivirus-software companies must provide samples of destructive computer programs and rogue wiretap software from their research labs. "

    http://www.dbugman.com/medley/idtheft1.html

    Anti-virus critics call this "The China Syndrome."

    http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1747588

  13. Eduard Coli

    Building a Better Beast

    The US and China will go to war over oil.

    The Communists have not forgotten the manifesto and China will act to reduce and remove US and European influence in favor of their own to obtain access to cheap resources to sell plastic to the US and Europe.

    The military budget in China is higher than all of the money spent by both the US and the USSR during the entire cold war.

    When the US and China go to war China will war with weapons built and improved upon using money provided by the greed of the top 10% wealthiest in the US and Europe.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Title

    The report is just that, a report. It is required by Congress but no one actually makes any decisions on it. In fact, we are offering to help them develop their nuclear aircraft carriers: http://www.defence.pk/forums/showthread.php?p=73351

    It's all crap, crap I tell you. Never believe the warmongers....

  15. Dillon Pyron

    Don't forget 2001

    Remember the spy plane incident in 2001? There was a concentrated DoS attack on many US institutions (but not the military) that originated from the PRC.

    Oh yeah, the PLA is bigger than the United State total population.

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