China hacks the world!

China is poised to take over the world with its impressive array of cyber warfare techniques, anti-satellite weaponry and unfair trade controls, according to a US Congressional report presented last Thursday.

The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission released its annual report to the US Congress and recommended 45 different courses of action to rectify what they declare as "impedments [sic] to U.S. Economic and national security interests".

It decries China's "heavy-handed" control of the economy in amassing a huge amount of foreign currency, which has been used to "manipulate currency trading and diplomatic relations with other nations."

In addition, the bipartisan commission (6 Democrats and 6 Republicans) alleges that China is stealing sensitive information from the US through hackers and claims that in 2007 5 million computers in America were subject to 43,880 attacks.

China is denying all of this, and Xinhua are reporting that the Foreign Ministry have gone as far as saying that the claims are "unworthy of rebuttal".

Beijing sees the report as another vilification of China in the Western press, a hot topic this year with media pressure on issues like Tibet, Xinjiang, the Olympics and freedom of the press hitting a nerve with the Chinese government.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Xinhua: "The commission always see China through distorted color spectacles, and intentionally create obstacles for the China-U.S. cooperation in extensive fields through smearing China deliberately and misleading the general public."

However, the report does acknowledge "some progress by China," especially in its continued involvement in non-proliferation talks.

US-China review
Xinhua: China rejects U.S. congressional panel report