Recall from Reuters yesterday:
Australian intelligence determined China was responsible for a cyber-attack on its national parliament and three largest political parties before the general election in May, five people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters…
The report, which also included input from the Department of Foreign Affairs, recommended keeping the findings secret in order to avoid disrupting trade relations with Beijing, two of the people said. The Australian government has not disclosed who it believes was behind the attack or any details of the report.
China’s Foreign Ministry denied involvement in any sort of hacking attacks and said the internet was full of theories that were hard to trace.
Sinocism’s Bill Bishop is succinct:
Comment: My experiences in China are no doubt micro-level but in life and business there one of the worst things you can do is let someone screw you and then do or say nothing about it. If that is your approach then the other party assumes you are weak relative to them and you will take whatever they want to do to you.
Coral Bell’s iconic “Dependent ally” illustrated how Australia’s history of grovelling and needling its great and powerful friends in Britain and the US had functioned institutionally for a century.
That does not work with the Chinese Communist Party yet it is the only tradition we have…
